I have never used this blog. I know it was set up a year ago and it's linked right to our podcast page for The Gorram Nerd Hour but I always forget about it. Anyway, I'm using it now. I wanted to take a few minutes of your time to talk about a project that Brian and I were involved in. That is Death By VHS. It's a horror anthology from Worldwide Multi Media and includes a short I directed, Brian starred in and we both wrote together. Our director of photography was David Sabal from Brian's other show, The Atomic Fallout Society. We had a blast making it. The cast was amazing and we have been getting some great reviews for it.
Recently I was on the phone with Bill Oberst Jr., star of Abraham Lincoln Vs. Zombies, Scary Or Die and the upcoming Ditch Day Massacre. You can listen to the conversation by heading over to the Gorram page. After we finished the interview I sent him a copy of the short Brian and I made (Lepus). Two days later I received this email -
Jacob,
I just used your Lepus as a stress reliever after a long day and boy, oh boy was I not disappointed! What a grainy homage. It has all of the hallmarks of the low budget horror I loved as a kid. I would love to see this at a midnightshow at a run-down drive-in in a rural and isolated Appalachian Mountain community and then have my car not start after the show. That would be the perfect viewing environment for Lepus.
Favorite parts? Numerous! The kids walking calmly by as Lepus bashes the boys' heads in; the stupid hero girl thinking that merely closing the blinds was an effective deterrent to a man in a pink bunny suit with fixed and dilated pupils right outside her window, the slut thinking that Lepus was her boyfriend just because he was wearing the hat, the tiny remote control car sending the Naughty Nurse tumbling forward in the floor, the party montage complete with featured song for the movie's soundtrack album, the whole final battle, the stupid coroner who said it was "bee stings," oh yeah and the preceding interview with the filmmakers. Otherworldly. The guy playing the sheriff was really good! He had a star quality; sort of like a former TV actor doing a comeback guest appearance.
Watching this thing was almost as weirdly delightful as a first viewing of PINK FLAMINGOS. I feel like I need a shower. But its a happy kind of "need a shower" feeling, you know? Like after being with a favorite hooker and she didn't talk much and now she's gone and there's cheap Chinese food on the way. Yeah, like that.
I say bravo. You guys do trashy cinema better than I could ever hope too. But I will keep trying.
Bill
This was, by far, my personal favorite review of Lepus. We have had some good ones like this one I found on Facebook from Cultcuts Magazine -
Now, let’s talk about the last segment, LEPUS. I do give the creators of this anthology credit for knowing one thing. Your anthology is made or broken by the last segment. Creepshow did it with that box under the stairs and DEATH BY VHS does it with LEPUS. It begins with a girl dressed like a Pilgrim (???) being chased by a large man in a big, pink bunny suit. If you say these things do not belong together, then you would be right.
Unless it was Halloween and this bunny is on a rampage. It’s the big night and the house party is in full swing and no one would suspect someone in a bunny suit to be a psycho killer, right? Well, they would be wrong. Dead wrong! The film is full of sight gags, a sheriff dressed like Jesus who is coming to fix that damned Easter Bunny for good. The effects are good, the story moves at a quick clip and it was the only one where the Grindhouse effect actually worked. I will give them grief for no boobies again, but I was so busy laughing that I really didn’t care. Director Jacob D. O’Neal has crafted such a laugh a minute, gory horror/comedy that I might have to admit that it’s one of the better things I have seen this year. Brian Smith as The Bunny pulls off the deadpan psycho so well that it makes you nervous, but you still laugh. One of the extras is of this pair doing an interview and they had me laughing so hard that tears were streaming down my face.
Unless it was Halloween and this bunny is on a rampage. It’s the big night and the house party is in full swing and no one would suspect someone in a bunny suit to be a psycho killer, right? Well, they would be wrong. Dead wrong! The film is full of sight gags, a sheriff dressed like Jesus who is coming to fix that damned Easter Bunny for good. The effects are good, the story moves at a quick clip and it was the only one where the Grindhouse effect actually worked. I will give them grief for no boobies again, but I was so busy laughing that I really didn’t care. Director Jacob D. O’Neal has crafted such a laugh a minute, gory horror/comedy that I might have to admit that it’s one of the better things I have seen this year. Brian Smith as The Bunny pulls off the deadpan psycho so well that it makes you nervous, but you still laugh. One of the extras is of this pair doing an interview and they had me laughing so hard that tears were streaming down my face.
We have really appreciated all the kind things said about our very weird little piece of Death By VHS. Now go click on the sponsors page and pre-order it from Amazon. While you're there order a book by fellow network cohort David Hayes or the graphic novels he and Kevin Moyers did together.
Thank you all,
Jacob O'Neal
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