[Downloadable] Creators Unite Issue 03 THE TROMA ISSUE

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Editor-in-Chief & Publisher Darlene C. Deever Business Development Director Marion Berdoati Sauzedde Marketing & Art Director Chris Barnes Editor-at-large David Dubrow Creative Director Emilie Flory Editor-at-large Laura MacLeod Editor-at-large Kelly B Editor Roy Bheer Special Thanks to Eric Alfonsi & Nicole Brezzo

Contributing Writers Richard Rowntree Todd Rigney Richard M. Martin Henri Maillard Christopher Zisi Kriss Pickering Mike Blehar Sooz Webb Anne Bonnier Contributing Artists Greg Palko Chantal Handley Stephen Harper Dub Meter Tony Newton ON THE COVER : Lloyd Kaufman by Greg Palko

For General & Advertising Inquiries CONTACT US

EDITOR’S LETTER

Dear readers,

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We are overjoyed to present you this third issue dedicated to TROMA ENTERTAINMENT and his creator, the stupendous Lloyd Kaufman. If the work of Lloyd Kaufman has not always been understood and appreciated at its true value his influence cannot be ignored, neither is it quantifiable. Movies, books, scores, methods, concepts, characters and merchandising from the TROMA culture have permeated spirits in a profound and lasting way. Cinema wouldn’t be what it is today without TROMA. Great filmmakers such as Eli Roth and James Gunn know well what they owe TROMA. Not to mention the thousands of fans and creative souls Lloyd gave hope by carrying out his unique work without reserve. Todd Rigney, the author of the impressive Found that we have the honor to host in our new section Passion Story, offers us a remarkable approach on this point.

Lloyd Kaufman is the ultimate reference for filmmakers and independent creators. He is also a very warm man extremely cultivated and with a great soul. We had the extreme privilege to talk to him in English but also in French, which he speaks without an accent! You will find this interview and others like the one made by our Fear Merchant in the Identikit. You will also find a two-parts interview of Lloyd Kaufman by Robert Rhine, “deaditor” in chief of Girls and Corpses.

This third edition of Creators Unite also celebrates our partnership with the fabulous Popcorn Horror Magazine with whom we share a part of our team and with which we will very soon propose additional topics, crossed-interviews and innovative creations. With this special TROMA issue, we inaugurate our new formula in a square format, hopefully more enjoyable and easier to read. You will find it online for free or downloadable (to read offline on the road) for a small price on Issuu.

We have also opened our website and our Facebook page that will lead you to the magazine. We wish you a great read and lots of fun inside this explosive trip in Tromaville!

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CREATORS CORNER

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

P. 002 Masthead P. 003 Editor’s Letter P. 005 Table of Contents P. 007 Special Announcement by Popcorn Horror Magazine P. 008 Creators Corner: Chris Barnes talks about Burn P. 012 Passion Story: The TROMA Effect by Todd Rigney P. 023 Results of Creators Unite’s Voight-Kampff Test P. 024 Le Boudoir: Adrian Esposito’s Greetings from Tromaville P. 035 Identikit: Lloyd Kaufman | Portrait & Interviews P. 056 Inception: Hectic Knife | Interviews with Greg DeLiso & Peter Litvin

P. 091 Vault of Creation: Special Tromaville’s Spirit P. 104 Tribute To: Debbie Rochon P. 114 Showroom: Laura’s Screening Room dedicated to Maria Olsen P. 128 Inspiration Box: LE LOUVRE Abu Dhabi | Depeche Mode | byNWR | Feder

P. 140 Afterword: Considerations by David Dubrow P. 148 Stimulus: Lloyd Kaufman & Miss Mosh by Mark Berry Creators Unite 03 Troma Issue

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POPCORN HORROR ADVERT

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Announcement by Popcorn Horror Magazine

CREATORS CORNER

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CREATORS CORNER

CHRIS BARNES TALKS ABOUT BURN In our inaugural feature for our Creator’s Corner, we asked award-winning filmmaker Chris Barnes to talk about his short film Burn, which has been taking the festival circuit by storm. What’s the secret of Burn’s success?

The basic idea for Burn had been rattling around my head for months, but being a chronically shy and self-doubting person, it took an age to pluck up the courage to even daydream this could be anything more.

To be completely clear, this was my first ever crack at anything to do with filmmaking–I’m totally inexperienced, so I honestly sought as much help as was available; checking with as many people as I could that my idea didn’t suck! Luckily, the majority of the feedback was positive, so I spent another age self-criticizing and procrastinating before finally starting to slowly blunder my way through a script, using free software I had no clue how to navigate!

My path had crossed with Judson Vaughan’s (Burn’s director) a few months before and we’d hit it off, so, when I thought I had some semblance of a script, I sheepishly gave it to him and, fuck me, he quite liked it! Most importantly, I tried to be as honest and as thorough as I could with every aspect of the (lonnnng!) process. Take your time. If you know you have a good idea and feel comfortable with the people you’ve shared it with, be prepared for it to evolve in ways you may not have thought (be ready for changes and rewrites galore!). But also, don’t be afraid to say no. Surround yourself with positive, supportive folks and good things will happen. Try not to be too disheartened by the things that don’t work out—many things won’t, but if you’ve tried your best you’ll love the things that do. Just have a go, and who knows?

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CREATORS CORNER

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ADVERT

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PASSION STORY

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PASSION STORY

From Toxic Avenger To Blood Hook: How Lloyd Kaufman Shaped My Love For The Absurd.

by Todd Rigney Visual Conception: Emilie Flory

Movies have always played a role in my life.

For as long as I can remember, I've loved film. One of my earliest memories of going to the movies with my parents involved a horrifying experience watching E.T. on the big screen. When the beloved alien first pops out and screams at an understandably terrified Elliot, I threw my trusty blanket over my head and left it there for the rest of the movie. My parents said other moviegoers were amused at my admittedly embarrassing reaction.

I like to refer to it as self-preservation.

My parents had one rule regarding my habit: no horror movies. I could watch as many bloody R-rated action movies as I wanted, but scary flicks were off the table. I scared very easily, which meant they'd have to deal with the effects Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger had on my tender psyche. Of course, that didn't stop me from wanting to watch stuff like Child's Play, but they wouldn't budge. If I wanted to watch something scary, I'd have to do it at a friend's house - which also meant I had to pretend I wasn't completely terrified out of my wits in front of my pals. The less said about my experience with Stuart Gordon's Dolls, the better.

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PASSION STORY

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PASSION STORY

However, my parents couldn't watch me all the time. When I got a TV and cable in my bedroom (minus the pay channels), I could consume just about anything I wanted.

During that time, I discovered USA's Up All Night. Although I enjoyed watching Gilbert Gottfried host the program, Rhonda Shear seemed to mesh well with the show's choice of offbeat cinema. Of course, being a boy quickly sprinting toward puberty, Shear appealed to me in a number of different ways.

Regardless, I'd come for the movies, and the kid who loved Garbage Pail Kids and low-budget sci-fi flicks discovered a side of cinema he never knew existed. I was immediately hooked.

Then I watched Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman's The Toxic Avenger, and it blew my tiny little mind.

My parents hit the hay around 11 p.m. every night, so as soon as I knew they were fast asleep (my mom snored notoriously), I'd turn on my little TV and tune in. That fateful evening, I'd stumbled onto The Toxic Avenger, a story about a love-struck nerd who becomes a rampaging superhero after falling into a vat of chemicals. Although I'd later learned that USA had removed a significant portion of the movie due to copious nudity and extreme violence, I didn't miss it at the time. Even in its neutered form, The Toxic Avenger felt dangerous, subversive, and a terrible secret I thought only Rhonda and I shared. It triggered something in me, and I was never the same.

USA's Up All Night also introduced me to Surf Nazis Must Die, Blood Hook, and two Toxic Avenger sequels, though I'm sure my 40-year-old memory has forgotten one or two (or several more) movies that pushed me to investigate TROMA, the company responsible for these very odd and frequently deranged films.

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PASSION STORY

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PASSION STORY

Whenever I'd see a late-night listing for Blood Hook (a personal favorite) on Cinemax, I'd sneak into the living room in the middle of the night and watch it with the volume level turned down as low as I could manage.

If my parents knew what I was up to, they never let on, but I prefer to believe that my thief skills were maxed out and operating at the highest possible level. Doubtful, but it's fun to pretend.

When my parents finally relented and let me start renting horror movies, I picked up everything TROMA-related the video store had in its inventory. I consumed anything and everything, and I started to become very familiar with Kaufman's work.

In the days before the internet, this meant I had to chat up the guy behind the counter at Movie Warehouse, who seemed more than happy to discuss TROMA and its head honcho, Lloyd Kaufman. He also suggested titles such as Street Trash, Brain Damage, and Basket Case, pretty much solidifying my love of gory, offbeat, New York City-centric 80s horror.

Still, I didn't know much about the man, and living in Lexington, Kentucky, at the time - a long way from the mean streets of New York City - that wouldn't change until I started using AOL dial-up in the 90s. In fact, one of my first visits on the World Wide Web was to the official TROMA webpage. I read up on the company's origins, about Kaufman's history producing and directing films, and how the TROMA frequently acquired similar low-budget flicks from aspiring filmmakers. While some people used the internet to research French cinema and avant-garde motion pictures, I used it to become a TROMA scholar. And I don't regret a minute of it.

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PASSION STORY

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PASSION STORY

Over the years, I've consumed everything about Kaufman I could get my hands on, from interviews to documentaries and behind-the-scenes featurettes. And while my tastes have fluctuated - I once spent over a year watching nothing but Oscar contenders and winners, which I now realize was probably a waste of my time - TROMA has remained an unwavering constant.

When there's nothing on TV and I'm not in the mood for anything remotely high-brow, there's always a Kaufman-produced movie in my collection that can fill the void, The Toxic Avenger 2 being a clear favorite.

Not surprisingly, my life-long love for the movies bearing Lloyd Kaufman's name has bled into my career as a writer. While a lot of my writing tends to skew toward serious characters, the situations they find themselves are seemingly lifted from an unproduced TROMA script. Weirdos, freaks, and an assortment of grotesquely violent villains litter my stories, and when that's not enough, a heavy dose of sexual innuendo, bodily fluids, and an array of unseemly scenarios get smeared across the page. As much as I'd love to tell a deep, meaningful, straightforward story that would land me on someone's bestseller list, I can't seem to get the things I've learned from Lloyd Kaufman out of my brain.

Here's the difference, though: while I enjoy writing about people with misshapen penises trying to unlock otherworldly portals using their own cursed organs, Kaufman had a different agenda. At the end of the day, Kaufman's a businessman, and he scratched an itch few of us really knew we had at the time. And when he discovered people would gladly eat up everything from Toxic Avengers and Surfing Nazis to high schools filled with sexy ladies and deranged mutants, he began pumping these ultra-lowbudget films onto the market.

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PASSION STORY

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PASSION STORY

I'm writing stories because I'm a deviant guy with a very sick imagination; Kaufman created movies for sickos because he knew he could make lots of money. The guy's a genius.

Sadly, as a nervous, socially awkward kid, I didn't know anyone who felt the same way about the guy.

However, when I started a film blog in the mid-2000s, I soon connected with folks who also appreciated Kaufman's work and the TROMA catalog as much as I did.

Perhaps the strangest aspect of the internet is that, if I were so inclined, I could log into Twitter and tweet him directly. Of course, that doesn't mean I'll get a response, but the kid who used to watch Kaufman's movies on Up All Night would probably die of a heart attack if he knew that, at some point in his lifetime, he could contact one of his heroes with the push of a few buttons (or keystrokes, or mouse clicks). However, I haven't mustered the courage to make that leap, and I don't know if I ever will. I guess some things never change.

The fact that so many people have been affected by Lloyd Kaufman and TROMA fills me with unbridled joy. Although some people dismiss these films as simple trash for simple minds, I couldn't disagree more. Even if you hate the movies themselves, you have to respect Kaufman's business sense and his drive to cash in on a demographic that, apparently, wasn't satisfied by the stuff churned out by bigname studios. TROMA fans are a loyal, dedicated bunch, proven by the fact that the company still operates today. There's no denying the man's influence on countless novels, comic books, and movies, including my own. My name's Todd Rigney, I'm a proud graduate of Nuke 'Em High, and Melvin the mop boy's my best friend.

Todd Rigney

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PASSION STORY

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LE BOUDOIR

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LE BOUDOIR

INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR ADRIAN ESPOSITO

by Richard Rowntree

Visual Conception: Roy Bheer & Dub Meter Photos Courtesy : Espocinema & Troma Entertainment

At just 29 years old, Adrian Esposito is a New York based filmmaker with eight films under his belt, and has gained international recognition, winning several awards along the way. In 2015, he received the NYSARC Self Advocate of the Year award, and then in 2016 the NCE Lifetime Achievement award. Last year Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival honoured him with the Filmmaker Of The Year Award, and his intriguing documentary Diffability Hollywood won the Best Of Fest Award.

As a spokesperson for self-advocates helping the world accept people with disabilities as capable, his work has been widely praised – and as a proud member of the disability community (Adrian has Autism) he brings people together under the filmmaking umbrella.

A long time TROMA fan, he decided to produce Greetings from Tromaville! as a way of showcasing Lloyd Kaufman’s contribution to both the art and business of independent filmmaking. Lloyd’s credo of “make your own damn movie” embodies Adrian’s attitude, and highlights that nothing is impossible, and that any independent filmmaker can have their voice heard through the medium of cinema. The film features Lloyd Kaufman, Ron Jeremy, Roger Corman and many more names and faces that will be familiar to fans of TROMA. I was lucky enough to be able to interview Adrian in a wider context recently, and his answers proved insightful and thought provoking in equal measure as you’ll see below…

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Richard Rowntree: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your love of TROMA? How did you discover TROMA? Adrian Esposito: I was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome at age 5 but I’ve never let that interfere with my life. I discovered TROMA when I first saw the Toxic Crusaders cartoon show at a young age.

Later, when I was a little older, I went to my local video store, I saw the Toxic Avenger Part 2 VHS tape on the shelf and recognized who the character was on the box from the cartoon show and wanted my mom to rent it.

However, my mom would not rent it because it was R-rated. But when I was around 13/14 years old I was able to see all four Toxic Avenger movies and have been a fan ever since.

RR: How did you get started in film, and what made you want to become a filmmaker?

AE: I got started in making films around 2007/2008 by making documentaries that were more historical and educational. What made me want to become a filmmaker are the movies The Nutty Professor (1963) and Dawn of the Dead (1979); I really liked the creative storytelling aspect of filmmaking, but when I first started out I could only make documentaries because of how easy they were to make compared to narrative films which are much harder to do because of cast/crew, catering, etc. But I’m determined to venture out of documentaries and more into Narrative films.

RR: What projects are you working on right now?

AE: I am currently working on a narrative film with actor and friend Bill Weeden called Special Needs Revolt! which is a political satire where a person with Down syndrome (who is the main character) is also an action hero.

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LE BOUDOIR

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LE BOUDOIR

RR: And you’re raising funds for this now through KICKSTARTER. What has been the reaction to Greetings from Tromaville! so far from festivals and audiences?

AE: People so far really love it and want to know when the film will be available on DVD/Blu-Ray and for streaming.

RR: What other genres of films do you enjoy watching, and do you have any ambitions to work within in the future?

AE: I mostly like documentaries but I do enjoy horror movies and comedy along with action and schlocky B movies. I used to like drama, but not so much anymore, because of how some of them are based on true stories that emotionally get me very mad and put me in a foul mood afterwards‌ RR: How important do you think festivals are for independent filmmakers?

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LE BOUDOIR

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LE BOUDOIR AE: I think independent film festivals are very important for indie filmmakers because it’s a way to get connections with other filmmakers and possibly be discovered. However, some independent film festivals are real shams because of how they treat and deal with you and your film. Also, there are big festivals which I have submitted my films to in the past and have been rejected because of how they are being controlled now by the major conglomerate studios.

RR: Did you run into any complications when making the film, and if so, how did you overcome them?

AE: I wanted to get Eli Roth along with James Gunn and Stan Lee but with no luck. I had to overcome other obstacles by asking a few of the Troma actors if they could film themselves with their own cameras with my questions or do a Skype or phone interview and send me their footage via email thanks to the advice of Lloyd Kaufman.

RR: If you could re-make any movie, what would it be and why?

AE: I’m not really a fan of re-makes however if the original movie is really bad like for example The Last House on the Left (1972) then it should be remade, but for the most part I feel filmmakers need to come up with their own original ideas, that can be inspired by classic movies instead of taking ideas from good classic movies and remaking them.

RR: What's the most difficult aspect of independent filmmaking in your opinion?

AE: I think the most difficult aspect is trying to raise and have the money and resources at your hands.

Some indie filmmakers just go out there and do it with zero money and budgets. However, those zero budget movies only attract a certain niche audience. However, if zero budget movies are done right like The Blair Witch Project or Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste then more people will have an interest in them.

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LE BOUDOIR

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LE BOUDOIR

RR: What is your favorite TROMA movie and why?

And would you like to see a big budget re-imagining of it?

AE: I actually have two favorite TROMA movies: Troma’s War and Citizen Toxie. The reason I like Troma’s War is because of the political message that it was saying about the Reagan administration which still holds up today when it comes to politics in my opinion. The reason I like Citizen Toxie is because of how raunchy and over the top it is with its sex, violence and humour. Plus, Citizen Toxie has a good funny plot in my opinion which involves the Toxic Avenger being switched to an alternate universe with his evil alter ego during a school explosion. I wouldn’t re-make any TROMA movie except maybe change two locations in Citizen Toxie - which would be the aftermath of the school explosion to junkyard to show that the school exploded instead of still using the school itself, and an open field for when the Toxic Avenger appears in heaven and talks to God on his journey back to his alternate universe.

RR: Would you like to add anything for TROMA fans about why they should see your movie?

AE: I think people should see my movie because it’s an in depth look at an independent filmmaker and company that has been around for 40 years or so and doesn’t let uptight snobby people (especially Hollywood) get in the way of what he wants to do which is art.

RR: Thank you for your time Adrian!

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Richard Rowntree

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IDENTIKIT

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IDENTIKIT

LLOYD KAUFMAN SPECIAL FEATURE Visual Conception Emilie Flory & Dub Meter All Photos Courtesy Troma Entertainment Lloyd Kaufman – A Study

by Richard M. Martin THE BAZAAR CAST ITW By The Fear Merchant THE WEB TALK Exclusive Interview with Lloyd Kaufman

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IDENTIKIT

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IDENTIKIT

Lloyd Kaufman - A Study

by Richard M. Martin Stanley Lloyd Kaufman Jr., better known to us all as Lloyd Kaufman…

Today, I will explore a few things that have lead Lloyd to where he is today: a champion of independence cinema. A good place to start given today’s issue of CREATORS UNITE MAGAZINE (CUM! I think Lloyd would chuckle at that one) is at the founding of TROMA ENTERTAINMENT in 1974 by Lloyd and his partner Michael Herz. When discussing Lloyd’s career, it is sometimes difficult to separate him and his work from TROMA, as the two are so closely aligned, as before TROMA, Lloyd was already making movies (don’t mention “B-Movie” around Lloyd, I found out the hard way! See my interview attached).

Many would be familiar with the debut of TROMA’s mascot Toxie in The Toxic Avenger (1984) but Lloyd himself has been directing since 1969 with his debut The Girl Who Returned. During his first few years as a young aspiring filmmaker, Lloyd directed under pseudonyms. Was he embarrassed by what he was producing? Given Lloyd’s pride in his work, it is hard to know why he used such aliases like Louis Su, H.V. Spyder, David Stitt and Samuel Weil.

Many would see Lloyd as a director and producer but looking through his body of work you’d like to say he was an actor first and foremost having starred in over 300 productions to date; there are no signs of him stopping, however, having made 23 appearances in projects last year alone.

But who really IS Lloyd Kaufman? What can we deduce from all the information available to us out there?

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IDENTIKIT

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IDENTIKIT When posing the question “who are you?”, there is a lot to consider. It’s a question most of us would struggle to answer comprehensively. Anyone who has managed to write an autobiography, I have to commend them on that. I think in order to fully understand who Lloyd is, we need to dive deeper, we need to look at what was happening before TROMA, before the films even took shape. We need to go further back in time! *que TARDIS sounds and effects*( The TARDIS -Time And Relative Dimension In

Space- is a fictional time machine and spacecraft that appears in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who, Ed).

Mr. Kaufman graduated from Yale University and while he did major in Chinese Studies, he didn’t really pursue a career in anything Chinese, unless we’re talking mass production on the cheap! College is where Lloyd’s love of all things cinema really began to ferment to become an all-consuming lifelong mission to entertain us viewers who enjoy surrealistic, overtly sexual, and intentionally sadistic films.

But why commit such feverous delights to celluloid? What is Man’s fascination with sex and violence?

It is simple really, anyone of us who pretends to be a prude is in fact lying to themselves. Some of my own favourite stories revolve around, to put it eloquently, food poisoning.

“But why?” I hear you ask again. It’s relatable, toilet humour is simply relatable, we’ve all been there, breaking out into a sweat, not a lavatory in sight, the constriction and pain bubbling up from below, your feral instincts take over and you just want to shit anywhere to end the intestinal torment! Lloyd gets that and he is unashamed. We should all be unashamed, it is part of being alive.

You think a man with as much energy and get-up-and-go as Lloyd worries about what people think?

Certainly not, this is the same man who joked about masturbating to the thought of me in my dressing gown, ME! Was I offended? Not at all, it was funny and contextual, we even got it recorded (again see attached interview).

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IDENTIKIT

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IDENTIKIT Back on topic though, the question still remains “why?”. There is a throwaway line in the depths of his Wikipedia entry not often discussed about Lloyd.

In 1966, Lloyd went on a hiatus from his studies and spent a year in Chad for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) as a pathfinder for the Peace Corps. Could this have been the catalyst for his complete disregard for cinematic reverence, which the film industry always tries to uphold? In an era of scandal and cover ups, the upfront nature of Lloyd's and TROMA’s history and body of work is to be commended.

I cast my mind to the character of The Comedian from Alan Moore’s The Watchmen. A man who has seen such atrocity he has deduced all life to be one big joke and has turned the world into his own amusement park. To me Lloyd is The Comedian, he has made light of a variety of topics for over 40 years. Countless parodies, innuendos and irreverent humour. What’s not to love about it, IT’S RELATABLE. For me personally, Lloyd is someone to aspire to. He is one of the hardest working men I have ever witnessed. He absolutely wholeheartedly LOVES cinema. Lloyd will often help out aspiring filmmakers by making cameos in their films for a small fee or even for free. After all, he has been independent for over 40 years and knows all too well the trials and tribulations of the business. He is beyond generous with his time and appears seemingly from thin air on social media to join in the discussion while simultaneously promoting TROMA NOW (Troma Entertainment’s Exclusive Subscription Video OnDemand Service, Ed) . Once a hustler always a hustler.

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IDENTIKIT

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IDENTIKIT We all probably have a picture in our head of what a man in his 70s is like, slowly shuffling along, hunched over a cane, no, not Lloyd. He throws himself at life and has the filthy mind of any young man.

I think this is what my real take home point is about Lloyd. He has worked for every inch of his success and is still putting in those hours and not sitting back resting on his laurels. He is self-deprecating, quick to the joke or pun, and an all-around humble man. He supports the scene and the industry and has inspired and helped countless others. I think his most prized protégé is James Gunn [having wrote the screenplay for Tromeo and Juliet (1996)], going on to write and direct such films as Guardians of the Galaxy, which cameoed Lloyd as a prisoner some eagle eyed viewers might spot in the background.

To conclude, Lloyd Kaufman is a champion of the horror and independent cinema scene. He has helped and assisted creators uniting for the duration of his career. Without Lloyd we would not have seen half of what guerrilla filmmaking has come on to be and represent. It is at its core part of growth and exploration for young and first-time filmmakers alike. Get your ideas out there, do not let anybody tell you you can’t do it or that there is going to be no audience for your body of work. It’s all lies and jealousy. There is an audience for everything and everyone you just need to keep working hard and eventually something will stick. Without passion, there will be no glory. I raise a glass to Lloyd and all the people of TROMA ENTERTAINMENT who have helped shape and define what it means to be independent.

Richard Martin Host of The Bazaar Cast, Richard M. Martin, AKA The Fear Merchant, is a Horror Reviewer, Commentator and a Contributor to Creators Unite Magazine.

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EXCLUSIVE TALK WITH LLOYD KAUFMAN Once you enter the workshop of CREATORS UNITE, you never come out the same again.

As you drift past the paint-flecked easel by the window, the manual typewriter on the desk, the drafting table with the Tensor lamp, all bathed in the soft glow of multiple HD monitors showing multiple images, you become possessed. Possessed by the spirit of creation. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? The urge, the drive, the need to create. Even as it eats you, it gives you life.

TROMA ENTERTAINMENT’s founder, Lloyd Kaufman, fills the workshop with warmth, with energy, with an ebullient, infectious humor. He speaks French and English with equal facility, discussing the Tao Te Ching in one breath, then moving to Shakespeare’s The Tempest in the next. We were fortunate enough to capture just a little of Lloyd’s spark in a chat about filmmaking, writing, and TROMA’s influence on movies today.

CREATORS UNITE: Thank you for sitting down with us to do this interview.

LLOYD: Thank you for doing this issue on TROMA; it’s my fiftieth year of making movies.

CREATORS UNITE: What are the differences you’re seeing in low-budget filmmaking today from the way you made films decades ago?

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IDENTIKIT

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IDENTIKIT LLOYD: We have a wonderful democratization of the making of cinema. You don’t need money anymore to make a movie. But due to the development and evolution of the movie industry worldwide into a cartel or almost a monopoly—an elite club—you cannot make a living. You cannot pay your rent or eat your food and make movies. When I started, if you made a movie that was entertaining, unusual, or commercial, there was no problem getting your movie into movie theaters.

There were many little studios and distributors when I started my movie company in 1974. Now they’re all gone. The industry has become consolidated, and now there’s a small number of Devil-worshiping conglomerates—and some governments—that pretty much control every movie that’s being financed.

Because of that, if you’re going to make a truly independent movie (and you want to eat), you have to be partners with or become a vassal of one of those entities. Otherwise, you’ll end up like Uncle Lloyd, living under the overpass of Route 95 in a refrigerator carton, trading DVDs for bath salts.

CREATORS UNITE: Would The Toxic Avenger achieve cult status if it was released today?

LLOYD: The Toxic Avenger was ahead of its time thirty years ago. The guys who made Deadpool are TROMA fans. I’ve never met them, but they talk about TROMA all the time. Many of the elements of The Toxic Avenger, like breaking the fourth wall: we used to be criticized for having the characters talk to the audience. Deadpool does that. It’s Brechtian: Berthold Brecht. Thornton Wilder, Andy Warhol. Now having characters break the fourth wall is very chic. We were doing it thirty years ago, but nobody liked it. Thirty years ago, we were putting in rock and roll songs because we couldn’t afford to hire a Bulgarian orchestra to make the soundtrack. Now look at James Gunn, who worked for us: his soundtrack for Guardians of the Galaxy is heralded because it uses source music.

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Guardians of the Galaxy is a wonderful movie. A masterpiece. Most of these baby food movies are copying James Gunn and putting in source music. Our problem is that we were a little too early.

CREATORS UNITE: Who are some indie filmmakers we should be paying attention to? Who’s not getting the attention they deserve?

LLOYD: If you go to TROMA NOW, the exclusive streaming service, you can see over 100 world premiere movies. Some of them are made by the James Gunns of tomorrow. For example, Fear Town, USA and The Slashening, both written and directed by Brandon Bassham, are terrific: funny and scary.

Brandon also teaches at the Upright Citizens Brigade, a comedy group like Second City. We’re writing a new movie that will hopefully begin shooting this summer. We’re doing our version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

CREATORS UNITE: You’ve successfully made the jump from filmmaker to author with your Make Your Own Damn Movie book series. Tell us about your experience writing books.

LLOYD: The first book I wrote was my memoir, written with James Gunn in 1994: All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from The Toxic Avenger. It’s totally useless as far as learning anything about filmmaking, but it’s kind of inspirational. I’ve written seven books, one of which was a novel called The Toxic Avenger, in which you learn all about the history of Tromaville, including the Tromahawk Indians, who show up in the movie Poultrygeist. I just finished a novel titled Pests, a serious, dark horror book along the lines of American Psycho. That just came out in hardcover., I’ve written a lot of books; most of them are Make Your Own Damn Movie, Direct Your Own Damn Movie, Produce Your Own Damn Movie, Distribute Your Own Damn Movie.

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IDENTIKIT Myself, Michael Herz (my partner of over 44 years), the whole TROMA Team: we really want to encourage young people to do what they believe in. That’s not to say they shouldn’t go to film school.

I’m agnostic about film school, and I don’t mean that they shouldn’t try to be in the mainstream. If they want the Oscar and they want the cocaine and the mansions and the hookers, they can do that and still be wonderful people. In my experience of 50 years, 99.9% of the individuals in this industry are scum of the Earth. They’re horrible people. But that one tiny little percentage, they’re the best people. James Gunn is the best. Jon Voight is the best. Michael Herz is the best. My wife, who’s produced movies, is the best. And Eli Roth. I can go on and on. They’re wonderful. They love cinema and you can talk to them about cinema.

CREATORS UNITE: The advent of electronic publishing has had a democratizing effect on books with distributors like Amazon and Smashwords. Is there any similar way for an independent filmmaker to get eyeballs on his or her movie?

LLOYD: Yes. There are many YouTube stars creating entertainment on the internet and they’re getting millions of eyeballs. The Angry Video Game Nerd is one. There’s a French DJ named The Toxic Avenger with a bigger following than TROMA. The internet is the last democratic medium. It allows us at TROMA to communicate with our fans and present entertainment. We own about 1000 movies, and we’ve put 400 of them on our channel free to watch on YouTube to thank our fans for decades of support. The reason why we have such a following is because we provide something the public likes.

CREATORS UNITE: Thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate it.

LLOYD: Thank you.

A Very Special Thanks To Cathy MacKay & Hayden McComas

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CREATORS UNITE ADVERT

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HECTIC KNIFE

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SPECIAL DOUBLE FEATURE

by Laura MacLeod Press Release: Chris Barnes / Visual Conception: Emilie Flory All Photos Courtesy Troma Entertainment & Munrovia Pictures

Hectic Knife is the story of Hectic Knife, a put-upon vigilante superhero with bizarrely limited super

powers. The city he protects is being terrorized by the little-kid-head-exploding psychopathic maniac Piggly Doctor: an evil super villain bent on world domination. The first feature film from director Greg DeLiso, Hectic Knife is a strange new meta-comedy where no one is safe and nothing is as it seems….

The film, created by Greg DeLiso and Peter Litvin, is a six-year-in-the-making labor of love, blood, sweat, tears and…bagels, apparently. Influenced by everything from David Lynch to David Wain, Hectic Knife has been called the perfect mashup of Eraserhead and Airplane!

The project was a truly DIY, out-of-pocket, no permit, guerrilla filmmaking endeavor, with a budget raised the old fashioned way: credit cards, INDIEGOGO and the good ol’ piggy bank. The production was very similar to Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste, where the filmmakers shot once a week for almost two years and then began the three-year editing, visual FX, and ADR (Automatic Dialog Replacement, Ed) process. Once completed, Greg called up Lloyd Kaufman of TROMA ENTERTAINMENT, and within a week Troma presented them with a contract. Greg and Peter’s lifelong dreams were now fulfilled. Hectic Knife can be found on TROMA NOW, Troma’s streaming service.

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REVIEW

by Laura MacLeod

In a nameless, crime-ridden big city, one vigilante struggles to keep the peace by killing nearly everyone he meets. I suppose fewer people equals less crime, even if not necessarily per capita, but it still doesn’t seem very efficient, especially since he’s killing everyone with knives. But since said vigilante’s name is Hectic Knife (Peter Litvin) — and it really is, that’s what he was christened — it might seem awkward if he used a gun.

You may have already guessed, but Hectic Knife is the latest from TROMA ENTERTAINMENT, creators of the cult classic The Toxic Avenger. So however weird and wild I make this movie sound, it’s actually much, much crazier.

Anyway, Hectic doesn’t feel fulfilled by his killing anymore and doesn’t know what to do. His friend Harry (Richard Kohn), one of the few characters with a normal name, suggests a vacation, but that’s difficult to manage when you’re broke and vigilantism doesn’t pay very well unless you’re Spaghettiman. So first Hectic gets a roommate, Link (John Munnelly), who pays very handsomely for nothing more than a spot on the couch. Then Hectic gets a girlfriend, Frannie Glooper (Georgia Kate Haege), or, more precisely, a woman he saved announces that she’s his girlfriend and he doesn’t object fast enough.

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INCEPTION Things seem like they’re looking up for our hero—so to speak—until a new plot point appears in the form of the villainous Piggly Doctor (J.J. Brine), Professional Baddie. He reminded me a little of Dave Foley from Kids in the Hall while his name just made me think of Piggly Wiggly. But he and his evil minion Porch (Traci Ann Wolfe) plan to take over the world by making everyone a drug addict…which again doesn’t seem all that efficient, but maybe he’s just trying to savor things.

Then there are flashbacks to Hectic’s origin story and the guru (Richie Blackwood) who trained him, a chance meeting with his dad (Randy Hutch) leading to an awkward family reunion, several random betrayals, and The Bagel Scene, which I won’t even attempt to describe. The traditional copious amounts of fake blood and internal organs are also there, of course, and the almost complete lack of a coherent storyline goes without saying. Hectic never ages, which at first I thought was just another part of the weirdness, but now I think there’s another explanation: he’s basically an extremely lowbudget version of Deadpool, and considering that he should have been dead three times over in the first 10 minutes, the fact that he doesn’t age becomes a minor quibble.

Have I mentioned that this is an absolutely crazy and bizarre movie? If you normally like to nitpick plot points, watching this will likely make your head explode, but if you can shut that off—and you don’t mind scenes that go on for uncomfortably long periods of time and lead nowhere, much like a modern Senate hearing—then this is the movie for you. It took the meta-humor too far for me, but I’m not sure any filmmakers in the world are having more fun plying their trade than these guys, and that always helps make a film more enjoyable. So, if you’re looking for another cult classic, Troma-style, give Hectic Knife a try. Blond wig is optional.

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INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR GREG DELISO What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

I saw Jurassic Park four times in the theater when it came out and I was bitten by the movie bug. I was just as fascinated by the behind-the-scenes documentary that aired on TV in the wake of its release.

James Earl Jones was the host and it showed Spielberg on set, directing. At age seven I wasn't exactly sure what he was doing, and I had questions for any adult who would listen, like "Do they make it all in order?" But, whatever he was doing, it sure did look like fun—and I'm happy to say that now, at 31, it is fun!

When I was thirteen, I was already a huge, obsessive cinephile. The AFI 100 Best Movies list had come out a few years before and I was exploring all the classics and getting into music and books and all kinds of movies. At that time, all Michael Moore had done was Roger & Me, Canadian Bacon, and The Big One, but I emailed him when I was in 8th grade. I told him I was a fellow Michigan kid, that I loved Roger & Me, and just wanted to say hello, basically.

He responded to my email that night and little things like that inspired me to get my first camera and start teaching myself the craft. I got a little Sony Digital 8mm Handicam back around 2000 and it never left my side, the way a comedian always has his notepad or a toreador his guitar. I walked through my high school filming everything and by sixteen I had finished a terrible, 2.5-hour long feature that will sit on the shelf forever, hopefully! I did it to teach myself filmmaking and the next year, when I was seventeen, I left for NYC to go to film school.

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I started interning while I was still in school and I just never stopped working. If you look in the editing department credits on Ridley Scott's Prometheus, you'll see Robert or Bob Mead. He essentially cut the thing, he's a genius, brilliant filmmaker and editor guy. Like one of those true, computer/music/tech/editing/filmmaking savvy, natural artist, cerebral guys. I interned for him for about 12 months back in 2004-5 and I'll never forget it. He opened a lot of doors for me and he treated me like an equal while also teaching me a lot. After working with him I felt like I could do anything. It did take another 5 years, but I started making Hectic Knife while out in NYC and people like Bob Mead, Jeff Krulik, Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher of the Found Footage Festival made it possible for me by letting me work for them and learn from them. I owe everything to those guys!

You've already got a lot of varied experience in the film industry. What's been the strangest job that you've done so far?

Oh man, wow! Well it is true; I've done everything from Production Assistant on high commercial sets starring Regis & Kelly to making copies of DVDs for people who make armpit porn to editing actor reels, music videos, and documentaries. I went twice the amount of revelations that my tape heads could handle on my Panasonic DVX 100b—I shot HK with it—and I made tens of thousands of dollars over 10 years freelancing as a shooter on all kinds of projects.

I am very, very honored to have worked with and consider these guys pals: Nick Prueher, Joe Pickett and Jeff Krulik. To me, those guys are legends of comedy, documentary, found footage, cultural commentary, whatever you want to say. I got to cut live segments for FFF, I think in Volumes 4 and 5 of their shows, not to mention over 100 web clips, a few of which broke 1 million views.

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Looking back, I was so young, just like 23-25 and I was cutting clips that got to be screened for 300 people in NYC, laughing and going crazy, and then that clip would go on tour and get screened around the country. At just 23 that was beyond a dream come true and it really taught me how to edit and try to start thinking about crafting jokes for an audience. I would never have attempted HK if not for that stuff and I give all credit and owe everything to those guys. So that's the fun stuff that I'm artistically proud of.

The strangest...after the armpit porn, which was fairly strange‌I think it was a guy who wanted me to create some kind of interactive calendar PDF file that had like, a behind the scenes video inside of it?

I don't really know. But I do know that he booked like three "casting" sessions that he wanted me to film for him. Those amounted to him setting up a few lawn chairs in a rehearsal space in Manhattan while three Craigslist respondents showed up and I was expected to shoot it as if 30 (or 300) had showed up, ya know, "Fast, MTV style cuts!" One time I basically lived on an airplane for 9 days filming a comic performing skits for a publicity stunt. I also made a series of unintentionally funny country videos for a really sweet guy out in NJ and I've probably interviewed over 500 people at this point in my life.

How did the original idea for Hectic Knife come to be? How did it evolve as you worked on it?

Pete and I had known each other and been friends since I was in tenth grade and he was in eleventh.

He had a band at the time that I was a huge fan of and we've collaborated a ton on all kinds of music videos and shorts and stuff. Back in 2009 or so, Pete was living in NYC and he had moved pretty close to me in Brooklyn so I moved into his living room (literally Link's room in the movie) to save money and start doing projects.

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INCEPTION Pete had me on retainer in exchange for rent money—the deal was I’d make whatever short he wanted. Nothing was too little of an idea—I pitched him Garlic Bag and we made it excitedly. Then we did a short piece that we called Hectic Knife. That short was high contrast black and white and had this little fight scene in it. And that spawned the character and general tone. From there we wanted to do a web series: episodes where this HK character would fight bad guys. But after we shot what was going to be "Episode 2" (which was the scene under the bridge with Harry and the drug dealers in the movie now), I realized that our episodes would be too long and there seemed to be something fun about this character, so why not just do a movie?

Looking back, I never would've wanted it to take another five years, but the bigness of a movie production is very overwhelming and because we only ever had about 1-2k at any given time to work with we had to do everything step by step. We actually did the whole post process backwards, or inside out in a way. But there's a chance that had we done it traditionally we might still be tinkering now. It's a crazy, giant process, but ultimately, I had fun and learned more than I could ever hope for. I'm also super proud of how great the movie sounds. Pete being a musician first, his developed ear, technically and artistically, really saved the movie. His music elevates the material, his attention to the technical details also saved the movie and gave us music and mixing and production time that could have easily cost us 500k-1 million had we hired industry people.

Pete's sound track is better—I think one of the best in any movie ever, as just a sound track out of context. So that is invaluable. And, he spent three years doing ADR (Automatic Dialog Replacement, Ed), an important technical process with the actors so that all the dialog can be heard. Had we ever had a bigger operating budget, that stuff could've possibly been accelerated, but also, the elongated process also gave us time to test screen and work out the timing and jokes as we went.

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The 82 min running time was really important to me because, without arcs or characters that learn things, I knew we couldn't over stay our welcome. Getting the rough cut from 1hr 54 minutes down to 90 took about two years, and then getting that 90 down to 82 took another six months!

As far as the writing process, there was never a script that started on page one and went to 100 as a Word doc on anyone’s computer. But Pete and I did write the entire movie. There’s a tiny bit of improv here and there but all in all it’s a written movie as much as any other. Because of our budget and schedules and lives we shot once a week for about fifteen weeks instead of fifteen days over a onemonth period. Every week we would write on Wednesday, then Pete would create a shooting script/call sheet and produce that Monday's shoot. Once we had those first fifteen shoots I put a rough cut together very, very quickly, but that rough cut was just that, rough! It was 1hr 54 min, and sounded like garbage. The rest of the process was as I said but we also never stopped writing. Five years in there will still be little jokes being added into the background or in text, or trimming out jokes or getting to them faster, or slower!

It sounds like the filming for Hectic Knife was indeed very hectic! What are some of your favorite behind-the-scenes stories?

My favorite story has to do with the little kid's head exploding special effect we did. I had it in my head that we should kill some kids in the movie. Anakin Skywalker did it and there was that great ice cream man scene in John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, right?

So, I wrote up the little candy bar / fishing line scene and pitched it to Pete, which was basically how we wrote it, by pitching to each other: if we both laughed, it became script.

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So, we went to do the scene but the logistics were over our heads. I mean, I literally wanted to blow up some kind of squib or, you know, movie prop, on set, a bomb, I don't know, however you do like, bomb FX, practically.

So, I figured, we'll get a fake head, I'll lock the camera down and we'll film the kid outside in a safe area, then that way I can film the kid, alive and well, then cut.

With the camera locked down I can hold that frame, replace the kid with a fake head that’s filled with guts and fake blood and stuff and blow that up. That way the kid is safe, it looks more "real", and we do a cool practical effect.

Well, the first challenge in the technical process is the fake head. In our minds, we naively had this idea about like a realistic looking head so that when I replaced it in the movie, you could maybe show like a frame or two of it without noticing—because, you know, in theory, it would be painted realistically. So, once we had the kid cast, we dragged them out to this guy who charged us like $750 to make this mold of the kid’s head.

The theory was that he was supposed to then realistically paint it. Well, he put the poor kid through the mold process, getting plaster stuck in his hair and shit. Then, when we get the head back, it looks like a cartoon! It not close to "realistic"; it's just like a joke! We still paid the guy for the mold but, ok whatever, thanks.

Then, once I get to editing, I realize, we didn't need a realistic head at all—or even a mold! It was all a waste, because, DUH, I locked off the camera, so the next cut could just be the explosion. We could've exploded anything stuffed with bloody guts.

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There's a very retro, 80's feel to Hectic Knife, which I think works very well. Was there anything in particular you did to help you get into that 80's vibe? Were there other films that inspired you?

Thanks! And yes, a couple things; it’s in 4:3, which people will only remember if they’re old enough to have an old style TV, or if they’re big Stanley Kubrick or old movie fans.

I did it because the boxy shape felt more like a comic book panel and made the whole universe seem sillier. Then the grain. There were no grain FX or filters added to the footage.

All the grain in HK is natural and on the original tape because I turned the gain all the way up on the camera. That way even with a lot of light the camera would always be fighting to add more light and thus give the image a natural texture to it. I think beyond that it’s just me being a kid and harnessing in all the stuff I love from that era.

The biggest influences by far were Wet Hot American Summer, Spaceballs, Mr. Show, Kids in the Hall, Freddy Got Fingered, comedies like that. But, then style-wise I kind of used what I assumed The Toxic Avenger is like in my head as a template, because I’ve never seen it.

What have you got planned (or hope to do) for your next project?

Right now I’m finishing up a short documentary for kids called What Does E=mc(2) Even Mean?

Then after that I’m finishing up an epic, 2.5 hour long, over fifteen years in the making, music documentary called What Kind of Music Do You Listen To? Then after those I’ll do my next movie.

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Yes, make something, show it to everyone you know and watch them watch it.

Make a second thing and do the same.

Rinse and repeat that until you can see that the mood of the people you’re showing it to changes and they actually start liking it apart from just knowing you personally.

Note: this is what inspired me to keep going on HK: the people around me seemed to like it for real.

Make sure to pay actual, real attention to their reaction. Watch the fake, polite smile from your first video transform to silence and paying attention and then into excitement.

When you get this audience (your friends and family) to excitement, now it’s time to make a real movie.

Make one.

Now that it’s done, cut ten minutes out of it. Your first movie is ten minutes too long.

Cut out your favorite scene.

Cut out all the inside jokes and all of your relatives that are playing bit parts that you all love to point out. Nobody out in the world knows them or cares.

Note: we cut Pete’s Dad out of Hectic Knife!

Now, go show your movie to somebody you have never ever met before and start over from step one!

If you have the guts to keep making things throughout the process I just laid out, if you take the polite reactions as a learning experience and take the criticism in stride, if you just blindly have the attitude after every video, “Ok, ok, but you just wait for the next one,” well then, congrats, you’re a movie director.

HECTIC KNIFE

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INTERVIEW WITH COMPOSER PETER LITVIN How did you get started working with Greg DeLiso?

We went to high school together. He used to come out to my band Space Cake's shows and film them.

He moved out to NYC long before I did. When I finally got here, we became close friends and started making all kinds of short films and music videos. It was a blast!

What was the first film you composed for and how did it go?

Probably Heavy Metal Picnic. It was fun, but nowhere near the level of complexity or fun as Hectic Knife. I wish that I had loads more composition gigs. That's an advertisement! Please hire me to score your next cool project! I'm very flexible with price. But seriously, I really enjoy scoring for films, and I hope to do much more of it in the future.

I saw that you have a business degree. Did you originally want to work more on the business side of the music industry or was it always composing you wanted to do?

I went to school so that I could stay on my father's health insurance. After an Associate's degree, I quit school and just worked for a plumbing contractor while I made my music on the side. Eventually I finished my Bachelor's degree because a fellow employee told me I would be “stupid not to”. I wish that I hadn't ever gone to school. I hated it and regard the whole thing as one colossal waste of time where I learned virtually nothing. I always wanted to make music. Business is boring to me, and I usually distrust anybody who tells me that business is exciting to them. Some people really get off on making money, and I think that's what people mean when they say they like “business”. Having some business acumen is a necessary evil of being an artist, unless you're totally okay being broke all the time. I've never been okay with that. I want to be able to pay rent, buy musical instruments, buy books, publish my musical works, and so on. And unless you're famous, you need money to do those things.

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How different is your approach when composing for a film rather than for your own songs?

With my own songs, I'm the only one calling the shots. Only I decide how things should sound, what's good and what's not, and so on. So, my own personal music is suited very much to my liking. The same is true of composing for film, but it's like working for a client. They have to also love what you're doing. If they don't, then you have to make something different. Beyond that, it's just a different process. It's not just coming up with some lyrics, chords, and writing a song. It's the actual creation of a mood, an idea, a theme, and it damn well better match what's happening visually; otherwise, it doesn't work!

Since you were also the star (and writer, and many other things) of Hectic Knife, did that affect the way you approached the music?

I don't think so. It was all fun. Thanks so much for caring about our stuff!

You mentioned creating a theme, which you certainly succeeded in doing for Hectic Knife!

Do you have a usual process for that or is it just however the inspiration strikes? I understand that with film scores you might not have a finished film available yet, so does that make creating a mood more challenging?

The basic process is to look at what's going on visually, thematically, and make sounds that are appropriate. I've worked with so many artists for so long who say things like "Make it sound more heroic", "Make it sound like a Disney movie", or "Make it sound evil", so I've gotten really good at doing just that. With Hectic Knife, there are certainly things that were supposed to sound heroic, evil, funny, exciting, stupid, goofy, sad, and so on. With regard to not having the finished film available, I don't think it makes a difference. I can look at a one-minute clip and make an appropriate score based on that alone, with no other information.

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The Hectic Knife soundtrack has an older, nostalgic feel to it. Was there any film score or particular composer's work that helped inspire you to get that 80's feel?

The obvious stuff is John Carpenter, Tangerine Dream, and almost anything out of 80's movies. But I've long been a fan of film scores in general. Especially just generic knock-off stuff where it was obvious that they didn't just want to license the actual song, and just had a composer make something similar.

There are so many 80's movies that have great songs that basically sound like Sisters of Mercy, but the vocalist isn't anywhere near as cool as Andrew Eldritch. But generally speaking I love, love, love 80's music. 90's as well.

You mentioned that you really enjoy working on soundtracks. Is there a particular genre that you like best?

I've made music for short films Greg and I have done, as well as one for Bogdan Szabo. I do certainly enjoy horror movie music. Truthfully, I'd probably enjoy making any genre of soundtrack music, but haven't had enough opportunities.

Have you got a favorite film score, either yours or someone else's?

State of Grace by Ennio Morricone, Fight Club by the Dust Brothers, Neon Demon by Cliff Martinez, Crash by Howard Shore, can I just say "all John Carpenter stuff"? Good Time by Oneohtrix Point Never.

That's all about score. Beyond that I really enjoy the score and moreover the song selection in Habitat, Hackers, and most of David Lynch’s movies.

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INCEPTION From what I've read, the filming of Hectic Knife was, appropriately, very hectic. What are some of your favorite behind-the-scenes stories? What was it like finally seeing the finished product come together?

I'm glad it's done, but quite honestly, it's very challenging for me to ever enjoy a so-called “accomplished� feeling. I'm really happy that we finished it, thrilled that TROMA picked it up, and was excited when the Blu-ray came in the mail.

Making the movie was a blast, and the tours were really fun as well. So, I should (and do) feel honored to have Lloyd Kaufman be one of my personal acquaintances, and I believe that I should feel the same about having The Angry Video Game Nerd in my Zombie Movie music video, but for some reason my brain will never let me really enjoy things.

Some years ago, I came to a very firm belief that my life is of no value whatsoever unless I'm creating art. And so, this is what I do. It doesn't necessarily make me happy, but it gets me further away from abject sorrow, misery, and depression than anything else has the capacity to.

Alas, a part of me wishes that I felt all sorts of feelings about Hectic Knife's successes, but I'm just to glued to my current projects and always looking forward.

My new album Instruments of Pain (my first heartbreak album!) is nearly done, and I'm of course convinced that it's my best work yet.

A movie I wrote called Dragos should be consuming the next two to three years of my life and simultaneously putting me in the poorhouse, or propelling me to some sort of success if I'm very, very lucky.

But the truth is I just need to be making stuff... because nothing else makes one bit of sense to me.

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INCEPTION As for favorite behind the scenes story: Greg and I driving around with Rockin' Ray was really funny and absurd. Filming on the beach was a lot of fun. The bagel scene was one of the funniest nights of my life.

Beyond that—I like that the explosive I made to make the fake kid's head explode didn't work. It just sat there and we were all like...oh shit, what do we do?

This is indie filmmaking, so nothing is done right.

Knowing I might get seriously hurt, I just went to the head, fitted a new wick to it, lit it, and ran. It worked the second time!

Did you have any advice for aspiring composers?

The only advice I have for any artist, filmmaker, musician, aspiring writer, anything, is to just do it.

Just create. Charles Bukowski has some great poem about a writer saying "Wow! Now, I have a new house with a beautiful room, and the light is just right! Now I can write!"

And of course, it's bullshit. To write, to play guitar, to make films, to do anything, the only thing you need to have is the drive to actually do it, and then to just go do it.

Good, bad, or otherwise, you can't make stuff without making it.

I can't tell you how many times I hear of people having ideas: they want to talk about them, and just talk. And they never do anything else. As the old saying goes, talk is cheap.

HECTIC KNIFE |

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Peter Litvin Music

INCEPTION

AIR AND LIGHT AND TIME AND SPACE Charles Bukowski “– you know, I’ve either had a family, a job, something has always been in the way but now I’ve sold my house, I’ve found this place, a large studio, you should see the SPACE and the LIGHT. For the first time in my life I’m going to have a place and the time to CREATE.” No baby, if you’re going to create you’re going to create whether you work 16 hours a day in a coal mine or you’re going to create in a small room with 3 children while you’re on welfare, you’re going to create with part of your mind and your body blown away, you’re going to create blind, crippled, demented, you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your back while the whole city trembles in earthquake, bombardment, flood and fire.

Baby, air and light and time and space have nothing to do with it and don’t create anything except maybe a longer life to find new excuses for.

SPECIAL DOUBLE FEATURE by Laura MacLeod

Laura MacLeod is a self-taught critic who's loved movies of all kinds since the Night on Bald Mountain scene from Fantasia scared her half to death at the age of four. She's been sharing that love (along with the occasional healthy dose of sarcasm) online since 2006 as the Movie Critic Next Door.

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VAULT OF CREATION

This Vault of Creation is dedicated to

Tromaville’s spirit

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Artwork by Tony Newton

VAULT OF CREATION

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Avenging Spirit A fiction by Henri Maillard Story illustrated by Dub Meter

The worst part about being dead wasn’t that every day was the same. That might have been bearable. Reliving a whole day would have provided plenty of experiences to re-savor, from the Denny’s All-American Slam breakfast in the morning (toast subbed for pancakes, as usual) to the last frame of Poultrygeist before bed (all those topless lesbos making out).

If that had been his afterlife, he would have had no complaints.

Instead, he just kept re-experiencing the last fifteen minutes. The strange car parked outside. Pulling into the driveway. Getting into the house. Gladys and some kid half her age, fucking on the couch like they were trying out for Vivid Video’s Anal Invaders #37. The agony in his chest and left arm. The EMT’s concerned face. Blackness.

Again. And again. And again.

He’d lost count once the repetitions reached the quadruple digits.

Oh, at first, he’d tried to change things, to break the cycle. Flip the script. Think outside the box. Pick your cliché.

It was impossible.

He was locked in. No matter how loud his mental shouting, how hard he tried to just twitch a muscle, blink an eye, do “something” different, he couldn’t.

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Everything remained exactly the same, from Gladys’s sweaty, shocked face to the horrible gasping noise that served as his last words (meant to be “You whore,” but sounding more like, “oohhrrrchhhuhh” in the extremity of his myocardial infarction). There was no changing the past. If this was Hell, the Devil had incredible attention to detail.

Eventually, he started to get angry.

VERY angry.

No white light at the end of a tunnel of darkness for him. Why not? Why did he just get the darkness? SHE was the one who had cheated on HIM! This endless Hell was unjust.

The unfairness of it swelled his anger to fury.

And it absolutely did not stop. Unconsciousness required a brain; his had died long ago.

His shrieks went unanswered.

His pleas fell on deaf ears.

His fury spiraled.

He spent YEARS screaming, a ceaseless roar of rage, and despite the same scene playing itself over and over and over and over throughout, he FINALLY felt something different. An infinitesimal change, but it was as welcome as water in the Gobi.

Through the humiliation of seeing his wife being pleasured on all fours by another man, the pain of the heart attack, and the taste of blood in his mouth from biting his tongue halfway through, he experienced an odd sensation of MOVEMENT, as though he’d tried to shove something but got pushed back instead.

This was it! He capitalized on it, duplicated it, multiplied it. THIS was his ticket to escape, and after that, revenge. The cheating, faithless bitch who’d killed him, who’d made his last moments of life such hell, would pay for it. Somehow.

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In time, more movement.

And more humiliation, of course: just because he FELT a change, even the tiniest bit, it didn’t mean he was actually free.

He could still see Gladys’s young lover’s straining buttocks, hear her gasps and groans, smell their frenzied sex. The cycle didn’t end.

But now there was more.

Focusing every last iota of anger, he sought form, and with form, solidity. Whatever it took, he would do it, fueled by rage.

A year passed.

Another year.

The endless loop of his death didn’t close: it just swelled to include this new experience.

In addition to the agony of the infarction rupturing one third of his heart, he felt an expansion of his will. Hope leavened his betrayal. Achievement sharpened his fury.

His focus strengthened. He gathered what he could to make his hatred tangible. The dust motes floating in a sunbeam. Loose carpet fibers from where he’d fallen to the floor, dying. Even drifts of hair from Gladys’s cat, feline remnants stuck to the bottom of the sofa.

What did it matter if these things were all but insubstantial? His rage was harder than titanium, sharper than steel. It would suffice.

But he had to wait.

The moment had to be right.

No slamming doors and rearranging cupboards for him. He was no poltergeist. He was an avenging angel. Vengeance personified.

A life for a life. It was only fair.

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So he waited, using the never-ending fifteen minute cycle of his death as a spur to keep him together. Literally.

And when it was time, he would throw himself upon her like a sandstorm, scouring the skin from her bones with the force of his righteous anger. But not before she learned who’d done it. She had to know it was him.

Soon, he began to look forward to the endless replay, those last minutes before death when he saw her face. The surprise, the shock. He hoped she’d have the same stupid expression before he blinded her.

At long last, with his rage honed to the purest edge, he saw her. No replay, this. This was live, not Memorex. She’d moved the sofa to clean behind it, wearing makeup she’d never put on for him at home. How often had she been fucking that kid since he’d died? Did they fuck in their marriage bed? The kitchen?

Screaming soundlessly, he launched himself at her, a whirling vortex of vengeful fury.

He was Death Incarnate, and in her last sight, she would— With a faint expression of distaste, Gladys lifted the vacuum cleaner’s wand to suck up the sudden puff of lint and cat hair that had drifted up.

She should’ve cleaned back there years ago.

Henri Maillard

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VAULT OF CREATION

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VAULT OF CREATION

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VAULT OF CREATION

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ADVERT TONY NEWTON

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TRIBUTE TO DEBBIE ROCHON

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TRIBUTE TO DEBBIE ROCHON

DEBBIE ROCHON Special Tribute by Laura MacLeod

Photo courtesy of Penny Spent Films, Rebel Idol Films & Morgue Art Films

Debbie Rochon, the Meryl Streep of Horror, has appeared in close to 300 movies. She is one of the most active and adored actresses in the industry: from her start as a Tromette alongside Lloyd Kaufman that led her to star in some of TROMAS's greatest films, Debbie Rochon has endeared herself to horror fans around the world. Also known for her work as a writer in Fangoria and Gore Zone, she made her directorial debut with the Italian horror masters inspired film Model Hunger, winner of nine awards and eighteen nominations.

MODEL HUNGER Directed by Debbie Rochon Written by James Morgart & Debbie Rochon Starring Lynn Lowry, Tiffany Shepis, Mary Bogle, Babette Bombshell Suzi Lorraine, Brian Fortune Original Score from Harry Manfredini Plot: Former pinup model Ginny had been cast aside by the heartless and exploitative modeling industry. Ginny didn't take rejection well and grew into a revenge-seeking, bloodthirsty, broken woman.

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TRIBUTE TO DEBBIE ROCHON

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When her new neighbors Debbie and Sal move in, Debbie begins to notice strange things going on and becomes determined to figure out what secret life Ginny is leading. Her new nosy neighbor throws a damper on Ginny's private life: her cannibalistic food addictions and ever-growing body count. Both women become determined to put an end to the other's obsession.

These days, schools actively discourage anything like door to door selling of the various cheap fundraising products parents and relatives all feel obligated to buy. After all, who wants their kids going to strangers' houses given the horror stories you read every day? This is why going to work is no longer safe, since that's now where you get pestered to sign up for popcorn or pens or whatever, in a place where we can't just pretend not to be home. But in Model Hunger, a mean cheerleading coach -- which seems like it should never happen, doesn't it? -- drives her students to go door to door anyway with threats of what will happen to them if they don't sell more than last year.

Two cheerleaders are in despair over their lack of success in the neighborhood they've picked when they meet Ginny (Lynn Lowry). She seems more inclined to chat than buy, but since that's at least a start they agree to accept her invitation for tea and an episode of her favorite TV show, Suzi's Secret, hosted by the outspoken Suzi (Suzi Lorraine) herself. There are several odd things about this scenario, the first being that it's a shopping show and that should never be anyone's favorite. It's also a shopping show specifically for plus-size women, which Ginny isn't. And it seems to be the only show on, ever, throughout the entire town. Meanwhile, Deb (Tiffany Shepis) and her husband Sal (Carmine Capobianco) are moving in next door to Ginny. Deb in particular doesn't want to be there; they used to live in New York so living in this sleepy little town feels like being exiled, it’s for her health -- her mental health, specifically -- but right now the cure seems worse than the disease.

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TRIBUTE TO DEBBIE ROCHON And the house isn't even all that restful, as Deb complains of loud noises from Ginny's house. That isn't because Deb is paranoid, though, or at least not “just� because she's paranoid. Ginny isn't the kind grandmotherly lady she appears to be and in fact has a horrifying hobby. I won't spoil whatever meal you have coming up next by going into detail but suffice to say it involves large amounts of blood.

Lynn Lowry is excellently cast, frequently going from southern-sweet and motherly to complete raving lunatic in the blink of an eye. Now and then the film allows us to hear her inner monologue, and if that's how her thoughts really are all the time I'm only surprised her body count isn't higher. In her mind, not only is the world a terrible place, it's filled with people who will betray you in a heartbeat, people who are cruel, corrupt, or just plain stupid.

It takes a little longer for Deb's character to develop, but she does eventually become more than a bundle of neuroses and it's always great to see female characters who are allowed to grow over the course of a film.

There's a certain choppy feeling, however, since the editing isn't always the greatest, and I'm still not sure what to make of the whole Suzi's Secret thing. Had other characters not watched and commented on the show within the movie, I would have thought it was just another part of Ginny's delusion, which might have been an interesting take. As it was, if felt like an awkward way of adding commentary on societal ills like fat-shaming and unrealistic standards of beauty -- you can never be too young or too skinny, basically -- but it seemed as though that might have been better handled through Ginny's character. And the show never really impacts the movie, even though I kept expecting that to happen somehow. After all, EVERYONE was watching it.

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TRIBUTE TO DEBBIE ROCHON

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TRIBUTE TO DEBBIE ROCHON

While the movie is often heavy-handed -- in more ways than one, as Ginny swings a mean tire iron -and it doesn't always accomplish what it sets out to do, it's also sometimes a surprisingly realistic look at how even the most psychotic people can often get away with murder, especially when they look like Ginny. Several of Deb's scenes are touching and beautifully understated and would fit neatly into a slice of life drama as her life is upended and, in some ways, she’s forced to depend on the kindness of strangers in her new home. It's true that neighborhoods aren't what they used to be, with everyone aware of everyone else's business, but in Ginny's neighborhood that might not be such a bad thing.

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TRIBUTE TO DEBBIE ROCHON

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ADVERT CHANTAL HANDLEY

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SHOWROOM

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SHOWROOM

LAURA’S SCREENING ROOM Special Showroom Dedicated to Maria Olsen

by Laura MacLeod

MARRTOWN

Photo courtesy of DIZZYBOY PRODUCTIONS, IODINE SKY PRODUCTIONS, MONSTERWORKS66 AND FULL FRAME FEATURES

Directed by Rich Rule Written by Zeilo Vogta Starring Kristin Mitchem, Toni Marie Perry, Maria Olsen Plot: A young woman has moved back home to finish her last year of college. But when she settles back into her life, strange and terrifying events cause her to jump deep into her family's history, and deep into her own past.

Long ago, in the wake of a deadly duel, a family was cursed through the generations. Though innocent of any wrongdoing, it was daughter Theodosia (Kristin Mitchem) who faced the worst of the curse, struggling to protect her young son. She finally consults a mysterious seer (Emily Lapisardi) who says that the curse cannot be broken, but perhaps it can also become a blessing. Casting a spell upon Theodosia's locket, she says that it is now an object of great power and returns it to Theodosia, also advising her to change her son's name and hide him away.

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SHOWROOM

In the present, descendant and lookalike Theo Burton faces more ordinary problems. Her father has recently passed away, and though they were divorced her mother (Sherri Knapp) isn't taking it well. Theo also has one more year of college to complete, and while Professor Daniels (Jeff Little) is happy to give her extra credit she isn't too thrilled with the idea since it involves letting him sexually harass her.

Theo's friends Blythe (Mandi Bolyard) and Winter (Philip Morris) are supportive of her in this unpleasant situation, while Kelley (Toni Marie Perry) suggests blackmail. This, we will see, is typical of how Kelley's mind works.

But other things are going wrong as well, like the strange dreams that Theo is having which seem to mimic real life. Also, her neighbor Missy (Maria Olsen) is convinced that Theo is a witch from a family of witches and isn't afraid to say so very loudly. Beginning to wonder if there might be some truth to Missy's accusation, Theo consults her cousin Angus (Zeilo Vogta, who also wrote the script), who hints at old family stories regarding curses and the locket. And it does seem as though the Burton men in particular tend to die young. Only Uncle Jason (Bob Butler) is still around to give Theo some family keepsakes, among them the locket.

While Theo doesn't quite know what to make of any of this, frenemy Kelley has plenty of ideas and isn't afraid to break all the rules in order to further her own schemes. When she tries to tap into the power of the curse, she risks all hell breaking loose -- perhaps literally -- but all she cares about is getting what she wants, from supernatural abilities to worldly riches, and a little thing like a curse doesn't scare her. But power isn't always easy to control, and when the dust settles lives will have changed -- or even ended.

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SHOWROOM The historical scenes felt off to me -- though granted I'm fussy about historical settings -- and also a bit rushed, but the film hits its stride once the background is set up and the action enters the modern day. The mystery unravels gradually and convincingly, and Theo's frustration over all the people (read: men) trying to protect her by hiding the facts from her is particularly realistic. Yes, everyone needs help sometimes, but "help" generally shouldn't involve lying or concealment of useful information.

Maria Olsen naturally steals all her scenes and gives unexpected depth to a relatively minor character, though many of the other lesser roles are unfortunately neglected. It's still worth four out of five, however -- it's an ambitious undertaking for an indie film but it largely succeeds, offering some interesting ideas and more cohesive internal logic than many horror movies. Theo's character is also given a wonderful arc, showing her journey from an uncertain, often lost student to a capable young woman ready to live the life she wants, even if she has to fight all the curses in the world -- with a little help from her loyal friends.

ANOTHER / MARK OF THE WITCH Directed & Written by Jason Bognacki Starring Maria Olsen, Paulie Rojas Redding, Nancy Wolfe Plot: A beautiful young woman is driven into a dark underworld of demonic possession, desire, and extreme indulgences when she learns she may be the devil's kin.

Everyone has wished for a different family at least once. How can you not, when every Thanksgiving Uncle Harry tells the same tired jokes and your cousins won't stop fighting over the best way to cook brussels sprouts? (Hint: There isn't one.)

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SHOWROOM Or you might have the opposite problem, like Jordyn (Paulie Rojas) does in Mark of the Witch, where it's just her and her strict aunt Ruth (Nancy Wolfe), and Jordyn can only wish that someday she might find her real parents.

Admittedly it's a bit strange that she's wishing for her parents, plural, since she has her mother's obituary. Ruth, creepily, reminds Jordyn at her 18th birthday party that she's now exactly the same age her mother was when she died and tries to get everyone to pray. Did I mention she was religious as well as strict? Jordyn, unsurprisingly, rebels against this, with dramatic results. There's nothing like having to call 911 at a birthday party.

But Jordyn has a boyfriend named Don (David Landry) and a best friend / roommate Kym (Lillian Pennypacker) to help her out with her strange aunt, and there's Jordyn's job at the pharmacy, though that doesn't seem like much fun since she has to work night shifts where apparently, she has only the janitor, John (Michael Rappaport) for company. He's creepy too, but maybe she thinks that's normal.

Anyway, as usual, Jordyn's birthday wish was for her real parents, except this year her wish comes true... and yes, it comes true in a very bad way and the whole movie gets steadily creepier. There is some supernatural horror, but what really made me uneasy was the fact that everything became so uncertain. It gets harder and harder to tell what's really happening and what's all in someone's head, and soon you end up just as confused as Jordyn. She wakes up in unfamiliar places and doesn't know how she got there, Ruth is acting crazier than usual, and even Don and Kym aren't themselves.

Jordyn is amazing at looking lost and confused, by the way. She's like Audrey Hepburn with her huge dark eyes. She also doesn't blink much, which I think helped make me more uneasy.

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SHOWROOM But she does a wonderful job being both befuddled and determined to save herself, in more ways than one, just as Nancy Wolfe manages to make the transitions from Creepy Aunt to Protective Aunt convincing.

The characterizations do feel off sometimes, though I'm still not sure if that was an accident or deliberate. Most of the movie is shown through Jordyn's perspective, and that perspective is obviously unreliable. The pacing also seemed off at times, though -- the buildup of tension suffers somewhat from a few too many scene changes. It was initially a short film, and I'm tempted to see if I can find the original version, which might have done a better job with that.

But overall it was frightening and fascinating, pulling you into Jordyn's surreal, unsettling world and asking more questions than it answers. The teaser scene after the credits doesn't even help. It's a great premise that falls a bit short in execution, but well worth watching, and worth four out of five stars. All of us have wondered about who we are and where we really come from, but luckily few of us have to face the same sorts of answers that Jordyn does.

CONSUMPTION / LIVE IN FEAR Directed & Written by Brandon Scullion Starring Sarah Greyson, Arielle Brachfeld, Maria Olsen, David Lautman Plot: In the snowy Utah mountains, an ancient being terrorizes four friends as they try to survive.

One crisp winter's day, four friends decide to head up to the mountains of Utah for a vacation. The family of one friend, Seth (David Lautman) has a condo there, and it's a great place to get away from it all and relax. And they all seem like they really need to relax. Sounds like a good plan, right? Don't let it fool you.

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SHOWROOM First of all, Seth is a little twitchy. Okay, he's acting extremely weird and secretive, as in he only reluctantly tells his best friend (Eric, played by Chris Dorman) that his mother Sue (Maria Olsen) has just died. He freaks out a little more every time someone tries to talk to him about it, and the same happens when his girlfriend Becca (Sarah Greyson) tries to talk to him about anything at all.

Meanwhile, Mallory (Arielle Brachfeld) is struggling to overcome the urge to cut herself while boyfriend Eric struggles to stay sober. I can't decide if they're ridiculously dysfunctional or if they're actually good for each other in the end. But Eric has smuggled a flask along and tensions are rising there as well. Add in Ferry (Myles Cranford) the "creepy lumberjack" and the far more creepy condo managers and you know you've got a horror movie. The managers are "the Pats", Patrick and Patricia (played by Geoffrey Gould and Nancy Wolfe, also of Mark of the Witch), and yes, they really are more unsettling than the guy with the ax.

Events turn stranger and stranger, until suddenly people are performing dark rituals to summon forth ancient nameless evil and you're not sure how things got quite so out of hand. Unfortunately, the main reason things get out of control is because there are too many things going on. We've got an otherwise normal person killing and dismembering close relatives, doomsday cultists kidnapping people, and of course the aforementioned ancient nameless evil possessing the unwary. In a way it's interesting to see how all these plots interact but mostly it's just confusing.

I'll give it three and a half out of five, though. The acting was solid, it didn't turn into a bloodbath for the sake of being a bloodbath, and despite being occasionally befuddled -- I'm still not entirely sure what was up with the epilogue -- I was certainly never bored. Thanks to the isolation of the mountains the atmosphere was quietly creepy for the most part, at least until all the plots start running into each other and it becomes quietly confusing instead.

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Laura’s Screening Room

MARIA OLSEN With 172 acting credits plus 23 as producer, Maria Olsen has become a leading force in independent film, as well as making her mark in Hollywood blockbusters.

Whatever you may have seen her in, her intense look, combined with her acting prowess, create an on-screen presence that's hard to forget. Maria Olsen is featured in Creators Unite Magazine 02: The Woman Power Issue.

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INSPIRATION BOX

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INSPIRATION BOX

INSPIRATION BOX LE LOUVRE ABU DHABI by Jean Nouvel | Depeche Mode’s GLOBAL SPIRIT TOUR

Nicolas Winding Refn’s NEW STREAMING PLATFORM | BREATHE by Feder Selection by Roy Bheer & Emilie Flory | Visual Conception: Dub Meter Special thanks to VODZILLA, Simon Willis & 1843 Magazine Photos : TDIC.ARCHITECT ATELIERS JEAN NOUVEL, DEPECHE MODE, byNWR, RANKIN & MAKE UP FOR EVER

Le Louvre Abu Dhabi The Louvre Abu Dhabi, an offshoot of the famous French museum, is located on Saadiyat island just across the water from the main city. It is dedicated to the threads connecting distant cultures. Billing itself as a “universal museum”, it tells the story of human history through artefacts and artwork ranging from the first known piece of monumental sculpture to the paintings of Yves Klein.

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Whereas other such museums, like the British Museum or the Met, have separate departments for Greek or Chinese art, this one explores how ideas and art forms have sprung up simultaneously but far apart, and then spread, met and influenced each other. This is a museum about globalization.

In 12 sections, each exploring a dramatic cultural shift such as the emergence of formalized religion or of the first great powers and containing pieces from diverse corners of the world, the Louvre Abu Dhabi is full of twins and hybrids: there are totems featuring sun symbols made by Buddhists in India and the Maya in Central America; there are stone fragments from the Gulf inscribed with Christian crosses alongside pagan leaves; and there are pots made from Chinese porcelain and decorated with Arabic script written in blue cobalt from the Islamic world… As well as the art, there is the architecture, which is reason in itself to visit.

Jean Nouvel’s building, which juts out into the sea, is a masterpiece of light and water. During the day sun streams through the dome, the light puddling on the stone floor and the white buildings… Outside, Nouvel has designed what he calls a “concrete beach”, steps leading to the sea for people to sit on when the weather is cool enough. Inside, he has done the same, and built platforms out in the water for performances. This is a civic space as much as a cultural one, a place for people to hang out whether or not they go to the galleries. Its power is metaphorical as well as visual…

For More Information, click on the Magazine Icon to read Simon’s Willis Full Article on 1843 MAG

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Depeche Mode’s Spirit Depeche Mode’s New Studio Album Spirit marks the band’s first collaboration with producer James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco (Foals, Florence & The Machine, Arctic Monkeys) and serves as the follow up to the band’s blockbuster 2013 album Delta Machine which debuted at #1 in 12 countries. Dave Gahan says of the release: “We are exceptionally proud of Spirit, and we look forward to sharing it with everyone. With James Ford and the rest of the production team, we’ve made an album that I believe is truly powerful, both in its sound and its message.”

Global Spirit Tour 2018 Summer Festival Tour Depeche Mode’s final worldwide shows in May and June follow an extensive, sold-out run across North America, the UK, Europe and South America, with the band playing to over 3 million fans in total. Produced by Live Nation, the massively successful outing will bring the band to 100 cities in 34 countries around the world, including a record-breaking four nights at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. The North American tour extension will start May 22 in Anaheim, California and will visit nine cities across the U.S. and Canada including San Antonio, Chicago, New York, and Toronto.

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D E P ECHE MOD E ’S F IN AL N OR TH AME R ICAN D ATE S ON CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED GLOBAL SP IRIT TOUR! Tuesday, May 22 - Anaheim, CA - Honda Center Thursday, May 24 - Sacramento, CA - Golden 1 Center Sunday, May 27 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center Tuesday, May 29 - Tulsa, OK - BoK Center Friday, June 1 - Chicago, IL - United Center Sunday, June 3 - Philadelphia, PA - Wells Fargo Center Wednesday, June 6 - Brooklyn, NY - Barclays Center Saturday, June 9 - Boston, MA - TD Garden Monday, June 11 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre Tickets are available at LiveNation.com and through the Live Nation app.

Depeche Mode will also be performing on the first day of the festival Lollapalooza Paris Saturday, July 21, 2018. Tickets are available now.

For more information visit Depeche Mode’s Website by clicking on the Website Icon.

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byNWR

INSPIRATION BOX

Nicolas Winding Refn’s New Streaming Platform An Unadulterated Expressway For The Arts Nicolas Winding Refn is launching his own streaming service, with a focus on restoring and reviving gems from cinema history. byNWR.com will see The Drive and Neon Demon director use quarterly themes to share his passion for the rare, forgotten and unknown, aiming to breathe new life into the culturally intriguing and influential. Each quarter will be divided into three monthly chapters, each featuring a fully-restored film, with content curated by special Guest Editors to support them.

From essays, music, video, and photography to cultural ephemera, the diverse content created by an array of contributors reflects the themes expressed in each volume’s chosen films. The fluidity of the site as it evolves and expands will encourage exploration of a wide range of avenues by curators, writers and the engaged creative public, building a community of contributors beyond the Guest Editors.

All content and films will be entirely free.

London-based agency Bureau has been closely working with Nicolas Winding Refn since conception as publishers and activators of the byNWR vision. Working with key partners including Harvard Film Archive (film restoration) and label Milan Records (music production and promotion) helps round out this digital proposition. byNWR has also joined forces with online platform MUBI to deliver world-class streaming technology and MUBI members will have exclusive early access to the restored films.

Click on the Magazine Icon To read VOD’s Full article!

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INSPIRATION BOX

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INSPIRATION BOX

FEDER

Hadrien Federiconi aka Feder grew up in Nice (South of France) before moving to Paris and quickly immersing himself in the deep-house scene, combining his own take on pop with what he heard around him.

His first release Sixto was a remix of world renowned musician Rodriguez’s track, which quickly reached a peak of #3 on Hype Machine at the beginning of 2014. Diving straight into summer, Feder released his own track Goodbye ft Lyse which also flew up the Hype Machine charts. Spreading across Europe, hitting #1 in Russia and Turkey and remaining on heavy radio rotation throughout the summer in across the continent.

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AFTERWORD

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AFTERWORD

Comparing Yourself To Others

By David Dubrow

Visual Conception: Dub Meter

The easiest and most destructive thing in the world is to compare your successes with someone else’s. If you’re a creator—no, scratch that—IF YOU’RE A PERSON LIVING IN THE WORLD, you do that. And you know you shouldn’t, but you do it anyway, despite how de-motivating it is. Oh, sometimes it ignites the creative spark (“I could do so much better!”), but envy, furious envy burns green and flickers out fast.

If you’re an illustrator, you’re not Michael Whelan. If you’re a moviemaker, you’re not Eli Roth. If you’re a writer, you’re not Stephen King. Hell, you haven’t even won a Bram Stoker Award. Or if you have, someone else has won two. Or three. It never ends.

You can even think smaller, to your close colleagues. Your peers. This one’s got an agent.

The other one signed a contract to do three covers. She’s finagled investors. His Kickstarter got fully funded. You know all this because you see it on social media, the most distorted lens ever devised to look at humanity. It only shows the high cheekbones, not the acne scars. The chiseled abs, not the skin tags around the eyes. The top five Amazon rankings, not the long, desperate, SHITTY nights when you set aside time to write, to draw, to succeed, and nothing comes out except self-recrimination.

Before you go down that easy road of comparing your success to others, you first need to DEFINE success. Dig deep.

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AFTERWORD

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AFTERWORD

Decide what you do, and determine for yourself what success in that specific field means. Is success winning every award on the festival circuit? Supporting yourself on commissions?

Quitting your day job? How much money do you need to make before you’ve decided, “Yep. I’m successful”? How many awards? How many Twitter followers or magazine articles or website interviews?

Once you’ve done that, here comes the hard part: defining failure. If you’re reading this, you’re not a failure. You’ve got unmet goals, yes, but being a failure means that you’ve given up. You haven’t given up because you’re here. You want to know how to succeed. You’re not where you want to be, sure. Few of us are. But you have to judge yourself accurately, not maliciously. We’re all our own worst critics. It’s a cliché, right? Everybody says it. But you can honestly recognize what you haven’t yet achieved without calling yourself a piece of shit. There is nothing easier than beating yourself up. The world’s not against you. You’ve got people on your side who know you can succeed. This includes me. I’m your biggest fan because you’re an indie creator who’s brave enough to put yourself out there and dare to succeed. Sure, I’m a nobody too, but at least you’re not alone. We’re nobodies with unmet goals together.

So how do you do it? How do you stop comparing your success to everyone else’s? Start with the small stuff. Incremental improvements. Read an article about a new technique and practice it for five minutes. Write something for five minutes. Draw something. It doesn’t have to be good. None of it has to be good. Do it anyway. Or go even smaller. Clean up your desk. Toss out a few things. Tell someone you’re jealous of that you like something she’s done, like a short story or film or picture. Even a Retweet, despite that it tastes bitter. One little thing every day, even when you’re tired and not feeling it. ESPECIALLY when you’re tired and not feeling it. If you do this every day, you’re making incremental improvements.

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AFTERWORD

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AFTERWORD

You’re building your body of work. You’re building yourself up instead of tearing yourself down. When you look back on what you’ve done, no matter how minor, you’ll begin to see improvements where there weren’t before. And here’s the most important part: celebrate those improvements. Congratulate yourself. Yes, I know it sounds lame. But if you spend so much time ripping yourself a new one, isn’t that lame, too? Don’t we thrive on praise? If you believe that malicious, nasty voice in yourself when it tells you you’re shit, why can’t you believe it when it tells you you’ve done a good job? These incremental improvements become big gains over time. It’s the magic of compound interest, called “the most powerful force in the universe.”

Here’s the best part: YOU CAN COMPARE YOURSELF TO WHO YOU WERE YESTERDAY INSTEAD OF WHO SOMEONE ELSE IS RIGHT NOW. You’ve already improved. You’ve already become somebody you can admire. You can look back at the person you were and go, “I’m doing better than her.”

That’s who you compare yourself to; not somebody who’s got a different skill set, a different set of circumstances, a different life entirely. If you’re gonna compare yourself to anyone, look back at who you were before, what you didn’t know back then, and smile. You’re better than that right now. And you’ll be even better tomorrow.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for creating.

David Dubrow David Dubrow has more than fifteen years of professional experience in the publishing industry, and has written several short stories, two novels, and a nonfiction book on surviving a zombie apocalypse. His latest book is Appalling Stories: 13 Tales of Social Injustice.

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