Death, Maleficarum, Reviews, Olalla

As some of you may already know from my posts on Facebook, my father passed away not long ago. Although I was supposed to be prepared for it, I wasn't. So, I took an emergency trip up to the great white North, saw friends and family, and slogged through a bunch of bureaucratic paperwork. Why does death involve so much paperwork? Incredible.

Robert Louis Stevenson, my new BF

I'm back in the South now, where the water goes down the drain the other way, and am getting back to the project at hand, my next movie, Olalla, in the midst of mourning. My next movie involves death. And a strange family.

I was perusing the interwebs and found that someone had written a review about Maleficarum recently on horrornews.net. You can read it right here!

I also received some spectacular reviews of Le Marquis de la Croix and Barbazul from the Beverly Hills Outlook, which will be published this year. Here are a couple of excerpts below:

Le Marquis> "This intense and focused Bolivian production, handsomely mounted by Amy Hesketh and Jac Avila with just the right visual accents and splashes of color for Decadent Cinema, is a master class in film direction, courtesy of Hesketh herself."

Wow, "masterclass in film direction", thanks!

Barbazul> "This Latinization of Bluebeard is the most successful adaptation of that fairy tale to the cinema to date, as, in it, cineaste Amy Hesketh subtly expands her thematics from her already established central concern of Control (of one being over another) to Complicity."

Again, seriously, thanks!

A bit of Inspiration

Olalla also includes themes of Control and Complicity. I do seem to like those themes, don't I? I'm also including Incest, Genetics, Vampirism, the Victorian, and the Gothic. Just to round things out.

More Inspiration

Review of Barbazul by Dean Andersson on IMDB

What joy to wake up this morning and find a great review of Barbazul (Bluebeard) by the renowned horror writer Dean Andersson on IMDB!

Here's the link to the original or you can read it here below:

Amy Hesketh's BARBAZUL is an effective horror film of great style and insight that would give Hannibal Lecter the creeps!, 12 February 2013

Author: C Dean Andersson

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

One of the love scenes in Barbazul

Based upon the classic serial killer horror of Bluebeard, BARBAZUL presents a new and chillingly effective original version of the tale. Jac Avila skillfully plays Barbazul/Bluebeard with a charming sophistication that seduces innocent and worldly victims alike. As the advertising promo for the film says, he loves women, he just can't stop killing them. And some of those murders in the film are written, staged, and directed by Hesketh in such a way that they crawled under my horror movie radar and jumped me from the inside. I have seen so many scary movies, but the kind that play it easy, using gore and jump-out-at-you scenes, fade as soon as the film is through. Others, like the suspense classics of Hitchcock or the shadowy mood pieces produced by Val Lewton, slip up on you and instead of making you react by looking away, keep you watching, even when it begins to feel like you are intruding on something very private that you would really rather not see. But then it's too late. You saw. It's in your mind. And it keeps coming back to you at odd moments the next day, and afterward. It is obvious Hesketh impressed me, again.

Amy Hesketh's character getting the treatment in Barbazul

Each of her films thus far, Le Marquis de la Croix and Sirwiñakuy, have been a unique and strong example of how entertaining artistic films that break the mold and defy convention can be. Being a writer myself, of course I credit the way Hesketh creates the underlying story with how effective the work becomes. And her character in BARBAZUL is a writer whose demise is every writer's nightmare! "Come on, just give me another minute to finish this, I'm almost done, just a moment more, don't interrupt me right now, come back later, let me finish!" It is a diabolical scene for a writer to watch. But at least, all of us who have been interrupted while trying to write do not, hopefully, have happen to us what Hesketh has happen to her character! And then, of course, it gets worse.

Beto Lopez as the sinister butler, Walter

All of the actors turn in excellent performances. Jac Avila's stylish interpretation of Bluebeard was aristocratic and cultured even as the sociopath within him does cold-blooded Evil, reminding me of Vincent Price's best performances. Roberto Lopez's Walter is one of the creepiest butlers on film, sinister without being overt, very subtle and effective, one of those "there's something wrong here but nothing I can put my finger on so it's probably just my imagination, but--" kind of things...if there were an anti-Batman, this is the anti-Alfred,or even more, "Klove" in the second Christopher Lee Dracula film Hammer Films made, Dracula Prince of Darkness. Come tothink of it, this could almost have been Bluebeard Prince of Darkness!

The very long journey

Mila Joya as Soledad

The ride to get to Barbazul's plantation (castle) over the twisting, turning road (like the one leading to Castle Dracula) emphasizes how far from any kind of help the women he takes there are. And the countryside through which the road passed reminded me of the beautiful, vast emptiness of the high desert of Northern Arizona where I once lived. Mila Joya's innocent and noble character totally sells her growing unease and alarm as she becomes more and more aware that she has been trapped by a monster (like Jonathan Harker in Castle Dracula!--and it just occurred to me that Hesketh's Dracula, if she ever chooses to do one, might finally nail Stoker's classic better than anyone ever has...). Another "victim," convincingly portrayed by Veronica Paintoux as an aggressive and worldly counterpart to Joya's character's helpless innocence, makes you believe she can damn-well take care of herself, which makes it even worse, for her, when she suddenly discovers that, no, not really, she can't handle Barbazul, either.

Veronica Paintoux as Annabelle

Original music by Brad Cantor and La Negra Figueroa added just the right touch to the film, reminding me, somewhat, in the best way of a Goblin score for an Argento classic. Finally, "Superb" does not really do this film justice. "Eros and Thanatos" writ large might be a better description, "Sex and Death," "Beauty and Horror," like the face of the great Barbara Steele's "Muriel" at the end of NIGHTMARE CASTLE, or the visage of the Norse Goddess Hel, half beautiful and seductively alive, half dead and nightmarishly decayed. In BARBAZUL, you can't have one without the other, see? As if you'd want to, right? And one extra bonus--if you happen to have seen Richard Burton's portrayal of Bluebeard in that famous old film, Jac Avila will finally make Burton's face stop flashing into your mind at the mention of the name, "Bluebeard." So, in addition to this great new film, thank you, Amy and Jac, for that!

Jac Avila as Barbazul, effectively erasing Burton's face from your memory

1st Review of Barbazul

From http://www.searchmytrash.com/movies/barbazul(2012).shtml

Barbazul

Bolivia 2012
produced by
Amy Hesketh, Roberto Lopez L., Jac Avila for Pachamama Films, Decadent Cinema
directed by Amy Hesketh
starring Jac Avila, Veronica Paintoux, Mila Joya, Paola Terán, Erika Saavedra, Amy Hesketh, Mariela Salaverry, Roberto Lopez L., Erik Antoine
written by Amy Hesketh, loosely based on La Barbe Bleue by Charles Perrault, music by Brad Cantor, Andrea Figueroa (La Negra)

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Barbazul (Jac Avila) sits in on a photoshoot with young model Soledad (Mila Joya), and while the photographer (Erik Antoine) proves to be a perfect arsehole, Barbazul befriends the young woman, soon takes her on dates, proposes to her - and promises to take care of her student sister Ana's (Mariela Salaverry) tuition and stuff.
Soon, Soledad moves in with Barbazul in his remote wine plantation, and he gives her all the keys of his vast farmhouse, but warns her to never use the key to his study ... but of course, at the first opportunity - when he's gone to fetch Ana for a visit, actually - Soledad enters the study ... a rather uninteresting room actually, if it wasn't for Barbazul's diary, which Soledad soon starts to read ...
The diary starts with the story of Barbazul's first wife Annabelle (Veronica Paintoux), a still very pretty model at about the end of her career. Just like Soledad, Barbazul had met Annabelle at a photoshoot, befriended her, datedher, proposed to her, married her, and taken her to his plantation. However, she soon felt like a prisoner in his remote farmhouse and because of his refusal to take her anywhere, so she wanted to seperate ... and he strangled her.
Not too long after that, Barbazul met singer Maga (Paola Terán) at a concert. The two soon fell in love, and he took her to his farmhouse to keep her - but she didn't want to give up her music career, so he knifed and strangled her.
Art lover Agatha (Erika Saavedra) was just a bossy bitch who wanted to take over too much of Barbazul's life ... but she found it rather sexy of him to tie her to a bed in the nude - her bad judgement and her demise!
Erotic novelist Jane (Amy Hesketh) was really creative when it came to their sex life, and the handcuffs and whips were actually her idea ... and also her end.
Soledad has just finished reading the diary when Barbazul returns with Ana, as promised, and of course knowing all this she's scared shitless. And of course Barbazul finds out she has been to his study and read his diary, and ...

Based on a fairytale, this starts like a rather typical (if impressively shot) romance, and only the murder (of Amy Hesketh) at the beginning of the movie suggests there is something wrong - which of course creates just the right atmosphere of unease for the film to never lose its edge. Add to this a directorial effort that's subtle enough and lets the film flow at a fittingly moderate pace, but doesn't shy away from more extreme images when needed (like in most of Amy Hesketh's own scenes of the rather shocking finale), a uniformly very competent cast, and wonderful locations, and you've got yourself a pretty impressive film.
Recommended, actually!

Oh, and if my review at all got you interested, you may want to get the movie from here:http://movies.vermeerworks.com or http://vermeerworks.com/store/dvds/

review © by Mike Haberfelner

The Release of Barbazul

I am very happy to announce the release to Download and DVD of my film Barbazul!

Below is the Official Trailer, the naughty bits are blurred out so your eyes don't bleed from shock...

You can see the uncensored version on vermeerworks.com.

Download the Movie Here or Get the DVD Here!

Maleficarum in the Top 40

Well, while I was busy stacking firewood up in Maine and avoiding porcupine attack, it seems that Maleficarum was listed in the Top 40 Movies of 2012 on the Obscure Video and DVD blog!

We're number 12, very nice if I do say so myself!

Here's what it says:

12. Maleficarum (Pachamama Films) The most talked about movie on my blog and certainly the most bizarre. This stars the lovely Amy Hesketh as a young woman tortured, along with her friend after they are accused of being witches. Amy is the modern Jess Franco!! Not to be missed.

Indeed!

You can read the original post right here.

2012

2012 was a year full of changes and packed with work. It was also a year of personal stress for me. Only now am I climbing out of that darkness into a better place. It's been a year of growth, that's for sure.

My dad and I

In 2011 I had to put my dad into assisted living because he was diagnosed with fronto-temporal dementia (Pick's disease). Over the span of 12 months he deteriorated fast and I was faced with the task of finding a home with more care for him, from several thousand miles away. In September of 2012 he moved to his new home and now has the care he needs along with a loving staff to help him. They're very accommodating and set up times when I can video Skype with my dad. I was able to visit him during the holidays and was pleased when he recognized me. Although he could not say it out loud, his smile said it all. Though I feel guilty much of the time that I'm so far away, I know that my dad would be proud of me for doing what I love to do, make movies.

This holiday season I also had a good visit with my mother and we baked cookies together, just like we did when I was a little girl. My mom was really sweet and told me how proud she is of me for doing what is in my heart and putting myself into what I do. I stacked a lot of firewood for her. It was a very special time, and I'm grateful for it.

My favorites, molasses cookies

This was also a year chock full of movie releases and screenings; Sirwiñakuy in CineKink 2012 (NYC, Las Vegas, & Chicago), Maleficarum and Barbazul (Bluebeard) in movie theaters in Bolivia, and Le Marquis de la Croix on DVD and Download.

We received lots of great reviews, interviews, made friends, and connected more with the world and our fans. A positive year overall!

So, what's up for 2013? We'll be releasing Barbazul (Bluebeard) to DVD and Download, Dead, but Dreaming will come after that. We're planning to shoot the second chapter of Dead, but Dreaming, and my fourth film (4th!) as director, Olalla. So, stayed tuned for the flurry of activity that we have planned for this new year!

Le Marquis de la Croix, a review by Dean Andersson

Dean has been so very wonderful in his reviews of Maleficarum and Sirwiñakuy, and now he has turned his literary hand to a review of Le Marquis de la Croix. It's simply marvelous, and you can see it on IMDB right here or read it below!

Dean has been so encouraging with these reviews, and I'm really glad we connected. In an abundance of reciprocity he has sent me several of his amazing books, which I am reading now and will comment on in different posts here on my blog, so stay tuned!

You can Download Le Marquis or Buy the DVD at VermeerWorks!

Amy Hesketh creates pull-no-punches art undared by ordinary filmmakers., 15 December 2012

Author: C Dean Andersson

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Amy Hesketh's Le Marquis de la Croix impressed me on many levels. Her extraordinary, pull no punches approach to filmmaking creates stories the timid would never dare and the ordinary could never conceive.

Le Marquis de la Croix captures a pure essence of the Marquis DeSade's defiant, revolutionary writings. Its challenging subtexts worked subconscious magic to remind me both of a personal experience of death and the disturbingly innocent opening scene in Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch where "innocent" children gleefully torture a scorpion.

Hesketh gives the reality of a single death more potent impact than a hundred slash and burn action film deaths shown in forget-'em quick video cuts, sudden, violent, and gone. Yes, prolonged violence in the form of torture causes death in Le Marquis de la Croix, but that death is shown to be defiantly slow in coming. It forces viewers to realize that, given the chance, Life makes Death work hard for its victory, the way I remember death coming to a friend at whose bedside I once waited.

Jac Avila's chilling performance as the Marquis makes clear the imprisoned aristocrat's clinical detachment as he scientifically records his observations of the young woman's suffering. But in contrast, Avila also drives home the intimate involvement of a torturer with his victim.

Mila Joya's Zinga is poignantly believable as the helpless victim whose initial hope that she can escape public execution by surviving the Marquis' private depredations slowly fades, forcing her to reluctantly accept that death alone awaits her, an end to all her hopes and dreams, an outcome not unlike that of the doomed protagonist at the end of DeSade's Justine.

Another nice touch is Hesketh's selection of background music, including the ironic choice of an historical chant-song voiced by revolutionary French peasant-citizens while they executed aristocrats—as the sadistic aristocrat in her film executes his peasant-victim.

But wait! There's more! Hesketh adds a wonderful and unexpected Twilight Zone ending that would make Rod Serling proud. In an IMDb review of Hesketh's film, Sirwiñakuy, I compared her direction to Hitchcock's, who famously appeared in cameos in his films. Hesketh does more than a mere cameo in Le Marquis de la Croix. Her performance in the framing sequences at the beginning, middle, and end makes dear Uncle Alfred's cameos pale by comparison and zaps viewers with a viewpoint revelation, casting the entire cinematic narration into an unexpected context.

Then, too, there is a commentary track by Hesketh and Avila that you can activate, containing fascinating, informative, and entertaining information.

I have no idea what Amy Hesketh is going to create next, but folks, if you've got any sense left at all, you'll fight me for first place in line to see!

A Review by C. Dean Andersson of Sirwinakuy

You can read the review published on IMDB right here! I've syndicated it below for your viewing pleasure with a few photos. This made my month! Maybe my entire year!

In a previous review I was compared to Lars von Trier and Susanne Biers, now Alfred Hitchcock and Truffault. Very nice.

You can download Sirwiñakuy here or buy the DVD with its pretty cover here!

Is Amy Hesketh the next Hitchcock? Truffaut? Bigelow? No! Better than that!, 8 November 2012

Author: C Dean Andersson

I'm on the left...

Amy Hesketh and Alfred Hitchcock have the same initials. Coincidence? Yes, of course, and yet… The great French Director, François Truffaut, was a great admirer of Hitchcock, and there is a bit of Truffaut in Hesketh's work as well, but… her Sirwiñakuy is a beautiful film that neither Hitchcock nor Truffaut (nor even Kathryn Bigelow) could have made, because it is pure Hesketh. 

I kept asking myself as I watched it, how could this be her first film as a director? It seemed to be the work of a seasoned veteran. It took mundane scenes that should have bored me and somehow made me want to watch and find out where it was going next, because it was obviously, from the first, oddly turned, just enough, to keep me off balance and unsure of what was going to happen next.

Dracula (1931)

 A car ride begins to remind me, for no obvious reason, of Jonathan Harker's ride to Castle Dracula, leaving a known world for the possibly dangerous unknown. 

The journey to the unkown

A walk up a simple staircase turns into, without any obvious visual signals or threatening musical hints, the walk up the determinedly sinister stairs in the Psycho house where Norman Bates might wait at the top… or is Norman the man walking up the stairs, or even the woman with him? Or none of the above? See what I mean? It kept me guessing, and in the end, all of the trite stereotypes I'd imagined were blown away by what really happened. 

So, while I don't want to give anything specific away by describing particulars, I will say that if you like suspense mixed with unusual, non-sentimental romance, featuring expert performances by Jac Avila and Veronica Paintoux (and Chuqui the Cat), and a plot that should keep you guessing up to the very last moment, give Amy Hesketh's Sirwiñakuy a look, and then follow it with Hesketh's subsequent work. I can guarantee with almost 100 percent certainty that she will not ever pull her punches on you, won't leave you feeling cheated. And in the best showbiz tradition, I suspect her films, now and in the future, are always going to leave you wanting more!

A scene from Sirwiñakuy

1st Review of Le Marquis de la Croix

Le Marquis de la Croix

Bolivia 2012
produced by
Amy Hesketh, Jac Avila, Roberto Lopez L. for Decadent Cinema
directed by Amy Hesketh
starring Mila Joya, Jac Avila, Amy Hesketh, Eric Calancha
written by Amy Hesketh

review by
Mike Haberfelner (re)searchmytrash.com

A young tourist (Amy Hesketh) stumbles into a museum dedicated to the (long deceased) Marquis de la Croix (Jac Avila). She catches the guide (Eric Calancha) depicting the last years of the Marquis, when he was held in solitary confinement - well, solitary confinement in theory at least, actually, against a healthy sum of bribe money, he was given an endless supply of beautiful young condemned-to-death female convicts to torture and kill at his leisure ...
The Marquis's latest victim is Zynga (Mila Joya), a young gipsy who might be innocent of the crime she has been accused of, but her innocence only attracts the Marquis all the more to her, as he forces her to fellate him. whips her, strips her naked, puts her on the rack, humiliates her in every way imaginable, and whips her some (well, a lot) more, until he has broken her spirit and she begins to feel her torture and humiliation as normal and accepts him as her master. And then he crucifies her ...
Of course, this story can't be verified or falsified, as it only exists in the Marquis's memoirs, which might be 100% made up. Then again, this could happen to everybody, even our young tourist ...

One thing up front: Le Marquis de la Croix is not a film for everybody, as it doesn't shy away from showing exactly what it's talking about - which means you see a naked woman being tortured and humiliated, a lot. And while Mila Joy does look just gorgeous in the nude, you might not want to see her treated that way ... but on the other hand, at the end of the day, this is just a movie of course.
With the obvious out of the way, Le Marquis de la Croix, despite its very graphic content, is more than just mere torture porn, as in its off-screen narration (by the Marquis himself) it mines the de Sade-like philosophy of its villain and gives fascinating insights into his depraved mind - but in a twisted way that reminds one of Nietzsche's "if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
So once again, this film isn't for everybody - but if you can stomach it, it's also a quite fascinating little film.

Oh, and if my review at all got you interested, you may want to get the movie from here:http://movies.vermeerworks.com or http://vermeerworks.com/store/dvds/

review © by Mike Haberfelner

Maleficarum - Dean Andersson's View

As requested, here's horror writer *Dean Andersson's take on Maleficarum! (Contains Spoilers!)

 "Amy—I downloaded Maleficarum and just finished watching it. That fan I talked to at the convention—he did not praise the film enough. It was so much more than even I had expected. I’m not a filmmaker, so I’m not sure just how Jac pulled it off, but one thing I do know is that you and Mila totally sold it. Incredible. Look, I’m sitting here with tears drying on my face. That is impossible. I’ve watched so many films. They almost never strike that deeply. You two and Jac’s direction made the women’s plight so horribly believable, so real, and yet heroic. 

Several scenes are going to keep replaying in my head. The moment when Mila’s character was looking up at you, and she almost said okay to the confession, then turned and spit at the Inquisitor instead, I felt like cheering, even though I, and she, knew it was going to mean even more horror. And the scene where your character was over the fire while Mila’s character kept begging, “Enough!” with her face twisted by anguish for you, but the men, like statues, ignoring her, painted a perfect picture of impersonal authority that unfortunately doesn’t stop in our world with the historical Inquisition. And the scene where they allow her to sit and you crawl to her and she strokes your hair, there was such love in that scene, how could it help but tear at a viewer?

 And then your agonizing crawl to her after your rape, you made each movement seem so hard, so painful, but your wounded character was so heroically determined, I felt like shouting “Somebody HELP her, damnit!” I guess you could say that by then I felt very “involved.” And your character’s prolonged burning—have you seen Oliver Reed’s death by burning scene in Ken Russell’s THE DEVILS? I always loved Reed’s work, but I swear you could have taught him some new tricks. Really. I kept hoping someone would rescue you in time. But it went on and on as the flames slowly grew—then the surprise ending, very satisfying, and even though your character was scarred and crippled, the two women survived! And triumphed. Excellent.  

You mentioned that the director’s cut had uninterrupted torture scenes, but I think having the torture scenes interrupted by the “reality show” testimonies and flashbacks kept the viewer from becoming numb to the brutality of what was happening. Still, yes, I’d like to see Jac’s director’s cut sometime to compare them.  

But if he feels as I do about the insanity of the Inquisition, and I’d guess from the film he just might, you can tell him that in my opinion he drove that message clear through the wall and out the other side. Obviously, everything about the film (even that incredible choice for music during the tortures…sweet piano chords? Brilliant contrast! And their repetition became a little like Chinese water torture to the ears) left me very impressed! Thanks so much!"

When you get this kind of feedback for a movie it's fabulous. I am so very pleased that this movie affected Dean in this way. Films should be like mirrors to our souls, so each person will see and feel something which is deep inside of them. They will react and respond, and I love every minute of that. Each time someone sees something unique in a movie in which I have participated, I feel that the great cultural dialogue becomes more and bigger than all of us.

*Dean Andersson, also known as C. Dean Andersson, is a prolific horror writer of such novels as I Am Dracula, and Torture Tomb. You can find out more about him and his books RIGHT HERE! And here on Amazon.com.

Maleficarum and the Magic of the Internet

It's amazing, the chain of events that lead more people to discover a film even a year after its release. I was very pleased when Dean Andersson, horror writer, contacted me on Facebook. Here are his own words about why:

"I do occasional writer-guest appearances at Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror conventions... On a panel discussion about horror films, an audience member asked if any of the panelists had seen MALEFICARUM. Sadly, forgive us, none of us so-called “experts” had. So, he gave an enthusiastic description. I knew, from other conventions, that this particular horror film fan had a low B.S. quotient, so I paid attention and took his MALEFICARUM enthusiasm seriously. I mean, he likes my horror, Dracula, and Norse woman warrior Heroic Fantasy novels, so he obviously has good taste, right? Right.

I ran into him again later at a convention party, and we discussed MALEFICARUM. It was soon evident the film had gotten through his horror-jaded, been there, seen that, thick outer crust, dragged him inside, and turned him inside-out, in a good way. He said he had not been expecting much. He figured it would be just another boring SAW or HOSTEL clone. But he claimed the quality of the acting, writing, cinematography, direction, the works, in MALEFICARUM had combined to make him care about the 'victims' and 'feel the horror from their viewpoint.' That aspect, plus the unflinching theme of religion-sponsored violence and explicit depictions of torture and its effects, especially against strong women, had reminded him of my 1987 novel, TORTURE TOMB, although TT is not historical—well, it wasn’t when it was written, anyway—and of the way it had affected at least one reader (and the way I suspect MALEFICARUM is affecting some viewers). 

Anyway, after the convention I looked up MALEFICARUM on the Internet. The first thing that struck me was the riveting poster, no news to you, the lighting, the potent textural contrast of unyielding stone versus human flesh, that whole aura of “Inquisition Mystique,” but it is the way the strong image all leads to the focus of the two manacled hands touching—defiant love in the midst of hopeless horror—that signals the film is very special, or at least so it seems to me.
I watched the MALEFICARUM trailers (no, I have not yet seen the whole film) and saw immediately the fan at the con had not been exaggerating. Then I watched most of your video interviews and became even more impressed with the dedication to authenticity and theme. I also found the interview Mike Haberfelner conducted with you in 2010. After which I discovered you on facebook, you quickly confirmed the friend request, and I decided to share my MALEFICARUN experience from that convention with you.  

It’s been 25 years since TT was published. It was popular with a number of readers but generally condemned for various reasons, some obvious, some not, by members of the “respectable” horror community. But with my editor’s support, bless him (he died a few years ago), those two books did what I had intended, said what I wanted said, and I moved on with other books. Then, in 1999 I attended a World Horror con in Atlanta and discovered to my surprise that TT and RPM had become sought after “cult classics.” But from the enthusiasm of that hard to please horror film fan with whom I talked at the convention, I think, perhaps, where the term cult classic is concerned, and I doubt this comes as a surprise to you, MALEFICARUM already, deservedly, is."

It's always the goal of an artist to put one's work out there and connect with like-minded individuals as a result. Sometimes it happens through osmosis, and other times by mere chance. But it's so great when it happens, so Jac and I have to thank this Horror Fan, wherever you are, for the introduction!

I must mention that I read Dean's book I Am Dracula when I was a kid and it was a prize in my collection* of vampire novels. I can't wait to read more of his books and rediscover those I already read.

*now lost to the sands of time... another story for another day...

The release of Le Marquis de la Croix

So the day is fast approaching for the release of Le Marguis de la Croix. But... you ask... when will that be?  October 31st. Yes, Halloween, one calender year to the date of the release of Maleficarum!

And since everyone has been so patient, I have a trailer for you. It's on youtube, so we had to conform to their strict policies. No worries,  there will be an uncensored trailer up on VermeerWorks very soon!

More Press for Barbazul

We just got back from another interview on Bolivian television, this time at channel ATB. So, here it is below! I'm going to go take a nap now, getting up before 7:30AM is not in my nature...

Press for Barbazul (Bluebeard)

We've had quite a bit of written, radio and TV press about Barbazul (Bluebeard) here in Bolivia. It looks like a lot of people are pretty excited to see my second film! Horror films are always more of a "scream"... stop me before I do more of a Cryptkeeper impression. Seriously.

Here are a few links to written press (all in Spanish, I wish I had time to translate, but Google can do an ok job for me in a pinch):

El Diario Bolivia

La Prensa Bolivia

El Deber Bolivia

Cine y Punto

Opinion Bolivia

Bolivia.com

And here is one interview Jac and I did at Laser 98 radio and one on FidesTV here in Bolivia! There were more, but we couldn't record all of them due to time restrictions, alas. Again, I wish I had time to transcribe these. No rest for the wicked.

Barbazul Debuts in Bolivian Cinemas October 11th

Pachamama Films prepares the debut of Barbazul, a new Bolivian film, for the 11th of October.

Barbazul is Amy Hesketh’s second film, the American filmmaker residing in Bolivia, director of the controversial film Sirwiñakuy. This new production made in Bolivia debuts October 11th in the Multicinein La Paz and the Cine Centers of La Paz, Santa Cruz and Cochabamba.

Barbazul is based on the classic fairytale  ”La barbe bleue” (Bluebeard, 1697) by Charles Perrault, author of Cinderella, which tells the story of a wealthy and feared aristocrat with a blue beard who has the bad habit of killing his wives. In the original story the sinister aristocrat, with many wives already under his belt and whose fates are a mystery, convinces a neighbor to give Bluebeard his youngest daughter’s hand in marriage. The bearded villain takes his new young and terrified wife to his castle, gives her the keys to all of the rooms and the liberty to open each one, with the exception of one room.

Read the whole article at Pachamama Films...