Rogues Hollow Productions News

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2010-02-02T13:48:00.001-08:00

Ghoulish Season's Greetings from Rogues Hollow

2009-12-11T14:29:00.000-08:00

Even though I'm not exactly a "Christmas Fan" I do enjoy this time of year. Whenever possible however, I do like to spook it up! I've been doing x-mas related emails each year and just finished up my most recent. If it looks familiar its because I meant it to be an homage to the poster for Halloween 4. I even came up with a cool tagline. Its a movie poster without a movie! You can click on the image for a larger version. Sorry I had to watermark the image. I have had problems with no-good-niks taking my Santa Zombie email image last year and I want to try to avoid the issue this time. If you interested in purchasing this image, licensing it, or buying a poster let me know by contacting me.

Happy Holidays everyone!

My Take on Jason's Hockey Mask

2009-12-03T18:39:00.000-08:00

Ok so I've been working on a few projects that I've had on the back burner for quite some time. Way back about 8 years ago I pumped out a few Jason hockey masks from a mold I had made. My plan was always to create a whole set to adorn my walls, one mask from each movie. But I never completed that task and the masks have been on a shelf collecting dust since. Then last week I got the hankerin' to get back on the project. I now have about 6 masks on my walls that I've completed in the last week. I had one mask that was a bad pull and had a lot of air in it. So I decided to make my own interpretation of a jason mask which is what you see to the left. I decided to go with blue markings and a lot of battle damage. Certainly something different but not too out of the familiar. Let me know what you think in the comments section.

2009 Halloween Yard Display Video

2009-12-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

I know its December 1st but what better way to bring in the X-mas season than with a video from my Halloween Yard Display? I've compiled a short youtube movie with clips shot on Halloween night in my yard. I was pretty bad at using a steadicam when these were done so I apologize in advance for the shakiness of some of the shots. It was a learning experience:) This was the first yard display I had done in 2 years and I think it was probably the best we've done so far. However I already plan on many improvements.

I hope you enjoy the video to the tune of Halloween 3 music and feel free to leave comments.

2010 Marketing Packages Available now at Discounted Prices!

2009-11-29T14:43:00.001-08:00

After a tremendous 2009 Season Rogues Hollow is proud to announce our 2010 Website Marketing packages! Order before December 31, 2009 and get special discounted pricing! Rogues Hollow has spent years marketing haunted house websites big and small and we've learned how to do it best! Don't be fooled by competitors with "Too good to be true" pricing, because they won't be able to back it up with results! We've been doing haunt marketing, SEO, flash video, viral marketing and web design for over 10 years! Other people build websites, Rogues Hollow builds results!

Click here for details and discounts on our 2010 Web Marketing packages for haunted houses.

Video Shoots!

2009-11-23T19:39:00.000-08:00

Recently I upgraded my camera to a full frame Canon that takes photos as well as 1080p Video. To boot I also picked up a Merlin Steadicam which is a balanced gimbal based camera steadying unit that gives you that "flying camera" look you see in Hollywood films. The result has been that I've been shooting smooth high def video that has blown me away. The Merlin Steadicam was invented by Garrett Brown who also invented the Steadycam that is used in films still today. Mr. Brown was the man that filmed all the steadycam shots in Kubrick's The Shining!

2 weeks ago I shot some Video for Beyond the Grave Productions, which I'll be putting online very soon. Then last weekend I shot video for ScreamWorld in Houston Texas. I can't wait till I can show it to everyone! In the meantime check out this quick shot taken in a field of the new Beyond the Grave Costumes below. This costume is called Unearthed and will be available at Beyond the Grave Productions soon!

Zombie Test Footage from Christopher Brielmaier on Vimeo.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

For awhile there I thought maybe Halloween would never get here, now that it has it seems like it went by way too fast! Thursday night my town had its annual Trick 'r Treat night and we decked the house out for the event like never before! It was definetly my best yard display thus far. I'm still learning about the best lighting techniques for my yard. Its been a little troublesome due to the fact our house sits high on a hill right in front of a street light which sends a lot of sodium light into our yard. I tried counteracting it with lots of blues this year and It turned out great! But I'm already thinking about next year.

Considering that I've spent the last week fighting a flu like illness and decorated the yard usually with a massive headache and a temperature, I still feel like it came out better than I hoped! I didn't get to do the fog or my hallowindow display this year but it still was a lot of fun! The kids loved it, the parents loved it and my wife and I had a lot of fun and that's what matters. You can check out all the photos here.

I shot some video that I'll try to edit in the next week or so to add to the site as well. I'll also be adding some cool wallpapers to my downloads section this week.

Its been a big busy year for Rogues Hollow and I'm already lining up new work so I feel very fortunate and even though it felt overwhelming at times I still had fun! Thanks to all my clients who made this a great season!

I updated my portfolio earlier in the week, it was a MASSIVE update with over 25 new site links that we've worked on! Lots of cool stuff to see.

If you've emailed me this week I'll be getting back to you Monday or Tuesday. I'm still getting over this flu but starting to feel much better. Thanks for your patience.

Oh, and one last thing, I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Halloween!!

The Night HE Came Home...

2009-10-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

I am quite the fan of John Carpenter's Halloween, however probably not as much as some. This past summer I got a sneak peak at something Brian from Beyond the Grave Productions was working on and I knew immediately I had to have it! He sent me some early photos of his New Myers mask called "Rage" and I saw the closest I've seen any mask come to looking like the movie poster for Halloween 4! So we arranged to have a full body pose-able prop made of Michael Myers to haunt my home. This week I was able to finally go and pick Michael up and all I have to say Brian has made another masterpiece!

Its hard to get a sense of the full scale of this prop but it stands about 6' 4" and carries a big knife! To say that its a bit creepy to have sitting in you're TV room is an understatement. The mask is very expressive and sometimes I swear it changes expression! LOL! Beyond the Grave has proven to me once again that they're on the cutting edge of great Halloween props for collectors and attractions alike! I recommend highly these Full body props and urge you to visit Beyond the Grave Productions to get one of your own!

Go Buy Trick r' Treat Now!

2009-10-07T15:32:00.000-07:00

Trick r' Treat is a everything you heard it was! Fantastic fun Halloween movie, perhaps the best since John Carpenter's Halloween! Its the kind of movie that reminds you what its like to be a kid on Halloween and the spooky magic that is Trick r' Treat night. I did a full review of the movie for HauntedHouse.com which you can see here so check it out.

I'm sure that Trick r' Treat will become the next cult Halloween favorite in a few years!

Tis' the Season for Losers to Steal Artwork

2009-09-30T22:07:00.000-07:00

I've seen some pretty heinous examples of stolen artwork since starting Rogues Hollow but this one surprised even me. A designer who calls himself "Andy the Great" has stolen an entire site layout, the flash header and even the music from one of my sites! See the side by side below. You can see my site at www.spookyranch.com then see "Andy The Great"'s stolen version at http://factoryfear.com/index.html. Feel free to email Andy and tell him how great he really is if he cannot even come up with his own website design.

Spooktacular Night Site by Me

Stolen Artwork and flash by "Andy the Great"
Advice for up and coming designers. If you cannot create a site without stealing artwork then obviously you are in the wrong business and don't have any talent whatsoever. So quit now! Stealing art isn't cool and it just proves to the world what a hack you are.

B-day present from my Awesome Wife!

2009-09-02T11:30:00.000-07:00

With my birthday being this Friday my wife just couldn't wait any longer and gave me her gift today. Its a handsomely packaged box of 8 highly delicious Cohiba Black Cigars! Nearly 2 years ago I started getting interested in the cigar thing. Cohiba's have consistently been one of my favorites but I found true love with Cohiba Black. Its a maduro, very rich in flavor and aroma. It makes my house smell awesome. In fact this is the only cigar I'm allowed to smoke in the house. They look so great I just had to share them on my blog. My wife found the perfect gift and that's why she's awesome!

Bring Back Frank Black

2009-07-21T22:00:00.001-07:00

If you go over to HauntedHouse.com you can read an interview with Mark Hayden of BacktoFrankBlack.com which is a campaign to bring back the character of Frank Black from the TV Series Millennium. The series was created by Chris Carter who of course also created The X-Files, it starred Lance Henriksen as Frank Black, a retired FBI profiler who now worked for a shadowy consulting firm call the Millennium group. The show dealt with the darkest of subject matter, rape, serial murder, cults, etc. The look of Millennium was even darker. It was always raining, dark, and almost devoid of any color. However the shining yellow bright beacon of the series was the "Yellow House" where Frank lived with his Wife and little girl, Jordan.

The show went through very radical changes from year to year due to Chris Carter being too busy with the X-Files movie and series to keep a watchful eye on what MillenniuM was doing. Year 2 saw lots of Religious end of the world type storylines and the Millennium Group turn into the bad guy of the series. By season 3 Frank was a conspiracy babbling loon not dissimilar to Fox Mulder. However even with its uneven myth arcs the series always took a no compromises take on their dark story lines. Unlike today’s modern crime shows, there was little humor to be found on Millennium. Frank didn't crack wise or make jokes about the murders. There was never a flashy crime scene investigation, and the killers were rarely anything but the dark, ugly twisted people you'd expect them to be. No charismatic pretty boys in this bunch.

In many ways MillenniuM was ahead of its time. It shocked people with its graphic display of violence and was relentless with its bleak look and stories. Today shows like Supernatural and many crime dramas draw heavily on MillenniuM for their look and production value. The show was a mini horror movie every week.

So why am I so interested in this MillenniuM, A show that’s been off the air now for 10 years? I graduated High School in '96 and that summer I started seeing these quick flashy promos for Millennium on Fox. From the moment I saw the quick cuts, the dark look, and that oh soo creepy tag line "Wait, Worry, You can't stop it." I was hooked. The first year of the series had a marketing campaign that really grabbed me. For some reason Millennium re-awakened something creative inside me and it set me firmly on the path to where I am today. Because of MillenniuM I started to revisit my dark artistic passions in new ways and changed my major in College. I started making my own "Fan art" and delved into Digital art which was still pretty much in its infancy still in 1996. I credit MillennuM for starting me on my way.

It's really hard to pinpoint what it was exactly that so captured my imagination. Millennium was unlike anything else on TV and its marketing materials spoke to me like nothing before or since. I still to this day have a Pilot Episode Poster hanging on the wall of my office. If you've never seen the series I recommend finding it on DVD or watching it on Chiller TV. The first season in particular is very much worth seeking out.

Today There's a great group called BacktoFrankBlack.com that have started a campaign to bring back the character of Frank Black for a new series that would deal with the same situations and themes as MillenniuM did. Obviously Millennium was a show about the coming year 2000 back in the mid 90's when it started however the things it dealt with certainly haven't gone away in the 10 years its been off the air. Now would be a great time to bring those themes back for a new series. To find out more check out the interview with Mark Hayden of BacktoFrankBlack.com at HauntedHouse.com or visit BacktoFrankBlack.com.

Special Treat from New England

2009-07-05T16:19:00.000-07:00

I feel very fortunate to have such awesome clients! Last Friday I was excited to receive a special gift from Tony and Sue of Factory of Terror in Fall River Massachusetts! 2 big 3.5 pound stuffed lobsters with Lobster bisque and Clam Chowder (REAL New England Clam Chowder).

After a very rough and busy week it was exactly what I needed! My wife, who is Japanese, finally found American food she really loves! Now she wants to move to New England:) Thanks so much Tony and Sue for being such great people!

Check out the mouth watering photos!

Windows 7

2009-06-22T17:49:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't know, Microsoft has given up on the much hated release of Windows Vista. They've decided to just release a new version this fall called Windows 7 and pretend the nightmare of Vista never happened in the first place.

In preparation for its release Microsoft is allowing people to download a Release Candidate of Windows 7 for people to test and try out. Its a fully operational version and I've been using it now for about a month or so. I can honestly say that Windows 7 is what Vista should have been. Its doesn't take up as many resources and runs very fast in comparison to vista. I have yet to have a blue screen creep up on me without notice and the new features have been very handy.

Windows 7 comes with so many new features that I have barely broken the surface in using them. My current favorite is the little pop up preview windows that come up as you run your mouse over minimized windows from your start bar. The annoying security notices are almost non-existent. Before in Vista you had to shut down all security notices or risk being constantly bombarded with them every time you tried opening any program, even Microsoft programs. I've seen the security notice pop up a few times but it has definitely been much less intrusive.

Visually it looks similar to Vista but there's a lot more personalization to be had and themes are built in so you can download new ones right from microsoft. Its very easy to use as well. I'm actually very much looking forward to using Windows 7 on all my PC's when its officially released. Its the Windows we should have gotten instead of Vista but I guess better, late than never.

If your tech saavy and interested in playing with Windows 7 check out the Official Site and download a copy. You can have full use of it through March of next year and partial use after that until June of 2010 then its time to buy your own.

Midwest Haunters Convention June 6th 2009

2009-06-02T16:19:00.000-07:00

To whom it may concern I'll be attending the MHC convention in Columbus Ohio on Saturday June 6th in the afternoon. I will not have a booth at the show. If you'd like to meet up with me to discuss a project please email me via my contact page. Thanks!

Rogues Hollow and the Kingdom of Crystal Skull, with Vodka

2009-04-23T18:56:00.000-07:00

No I'm not going to talk about a certain movie that sullied our memories of much better ones. No, rather I want to brag about one of my favorite clients. Chris Ainsworth of Thornhill Woods Haunted House has been a tremendous client since he called me to give his little Home Haunt's website the professional treatment. He ended up with one of the best, if not the best, haunted House website in all of Canada. (not that I'm bragging). Now this year we're gearing up to give him something truly unique and absorbing with his new all flash website that will be making an appearance in the next month or so with any luck.

I only got to meet Chris in person for the first time at Transworld a few weeks back and he's a great person and very funny! Apparently I must have mentioned something about Vodka while we were hanging out (Hey, I'm Irish and I like a drink every once and again). Today, much to my delight, I received the coolest bottle of any liquor I've ever seen as a thank you from Chris! Its called Crystal Head Vodka and as you can see from the photo is a Skull filled with quadrupled distilled Vodka that has been filtered three times. Awesome!

After some research I found the website for Crystal Head Vodka which to my surprise features a very informative video about the vodka directly from the owner, Dan Akroyd. Yes that Dan Akroyd. After a very informative history of the legendary 13 crystal skulls and why Mr. Akroyd decided to recreate them, with Vodka, I was even more stoked to have one in my hands!

Thank you very much Chris! This is one of the coolest things I've ever gotten as a gift and I can't wait to try it this weekend! You're Awesome!

Check out Crystal Head Vodka's Website Here!
Click here to Visit Thornhill Woods Haunted House

Stolen Artwork Report - Todays Offender: HeartStoppers Fright

2009-04-11T13:18:00.000-07:00

As Rogues Hollow Gets more popular and wide spread I'm seeing more and more of my artwork being taken and used illegally. Today's offender took artwork Rogues Hollow did for HauntedHouse.com's Christmas letter. They were nice enough to try to smudge out the HauntedHouse.com logo but its obviously still there. Then to top it off they slap their ugly logo on top of it.

So I hope you enjoy your ill-gotten artwork HeartStoppers Fright and thanks for wanting our
art so much that you were compelled to steal it instead of purchasing it legally. Apparently you are one of Hauntworld's Top Haunts even though your not listed on their site at all, but I guess you liked the idea of being a top haunt so well that you just decided to take it right? Good for you.

The Transworld wrap up

2009-03-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

I arrived home very late last night from Transworld in St. Louis. It was one of the best shows I've ever had and it was just a lot of fun. I got to meet some of my clients in person for the first time including my Favorite Canadian, Chris Ainsworth;) Who operates a home haunt called Thornhill Woods. It was a lot of fun hanging out with my new clients and friends from Beyond the Grave, Brian & Trish. Hey guys sorry for leaving early on Sunday!

We all went to the Darkness and stood in freezing rain for about an hour. Thanks to that I was starting to feel achy and sore on Sunday and now I have a head cold and sore throat from it. However it was still worth it to see the Darkness. Probably the most beautiful haunted house I've ever seen in my life. It lives up the hype and more!

I had a great time and picked up some more work. I have a lot to get done:) Transworld 2009 was a fantastic show and I can't wait till 2010!

The Pre-Transworld Post

2009-03-20T20:38:00.000-07:00

Yes Rogues Hollow Productions and HauntedHouse.com will once again be at Transworld for the 2009 show in St. Louis This coming week March 27-29. Be sure to stop by and see us! I'll be taking orders for 2009 Internet Marketing Packages and we'll also be taking Featured Listing orders for HauntedHouse.com. This is the year you could take the net by storm by Choosing Rogues Hollow and HauntedHouse.com

See you soon!

HauntedHouse.com Cards

2009-03-14T07:53:00.000-07:00

This is a pretty minor post, I know, but I just received my new HauntedHouse.com cards and wanted to share them. I'm pretty excited about them and am looking forward to lots of great things for HauntedHouse.com in the future. I'll be adding lots of stuff to Rogues Hollow soon including some new graphics and lots of new work I've been busy with. Check it out soon!

What's up at Rogues Hollow

2009-03-06T17:13:00.000-08:00

A lot actually... I've been hard at work on HauntedHouse.com. I've reavamped most of the site so far, but there's still some rogue pages out there with the old design. We're planning some big things for HauntedHouse.com. The first of which will be announced and shown off at transworld. If you've had trouble getting ahold of me its because of HauntedHouse.com but that should be coming to an end soon.

Also some may be wondering where my movie reviews went. Well I am one of 2 owners of HauntedHouse.com and I need to show some love to it by posting all my horror related reviews and news items there from now on. So if you want my take then go to the HauntedHouse.com Blog and you'll find it all there. Also I'll be more or less retiring from updating my twitter account as well so I can focus on updating the HauntedHouse.com twitter. Its going to be an exciting year for me, Rogues Hollow and HauntedHouse.com so come see as at Transworld on March 27th - 29th. See you there!

Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema

2009-02-24T02:01:00.001-08:00

Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema
by Jamie Russell (Author)

I don't have a lot of time to read books and the ones I do read have to be able to pull me in from page one or I'll never finish it. I bought Book of The Dead last summer and finally finished up last week. Its not because the book is boring that it took me so long, though it does have its slow patches, its just the sheer size of this tome and the limited amount of time I had to read it. Author Jaime Russell presents quite possibly the most in depth history of any subgenre I've ever read. He covers the history of Zombie films from their Haitian roots in the 1930's with films such as White Zombie to the current resurgence into pop culture.

Book of the Dead offers not only a full history of zombie films but also of the origins of zombie myth which begin in Haiti. In the early 1900's explorers that visited the country heard stories of zombie workers and were mndlessly under the control of their master working the fields at all hours. There are even accounts of explorers meeting the undead. The legends eventually led to the earliest zombie films which did not resemble our modern ghouls in any way. Russell covers in great detail every film that has ever featured a walking corpse or entranced zombie. From Big Hollywood productions to the cheapest crap ever commited to celluloid.

Where the book really wins however is in its coverage of the modern zombie film. From Night of the Living Dead to Land of the Dead Russell covers not only their production but their place in society and politics of their time. At times the book can be bogged down by these details. Land of the Dead was a solid outing by zombie daddy George Romero, but I always felt it lacked the commentary that his previous films had. However Russell manages to wax philosophical about the meaning of almost ever moment of the film and how it tied into 9/11, George Bush, and the war on terror. While I can agree with some of his observations I felt that at times he was just finding the meanings he wanted to find.

There's a lot of great to be found on this tome however. The coverage of the 1970's and 80's enlightened me to a few great zombie flicks that I had missed. Russel covers the worst shot-on-video crap the the greatest lost gems of the period. Films like the Blind Dead, Dead and Buried, and the love them or hate them zombie "splatter comedies" of the 80s get the love that has been long overdue to them. You'll find yourself running to your Netflix account to add these films with the passing of each chapter. If you get overwhelmed there's a great movie guide in the back of the book that covers every single zombie film with title, release date, synopsis and cast & crew details. And did I mention that this book has more photos, illustrations, and posters than you can shake a stick at? Cause it does.

This is a book that will tell you more than you could have ever wanted to know about zombie film history and is a must have for the hardcore zombie fan. You'll easily spend hours with it and certainly learn some things you didn't know.

Friday the 13th memories

2009-02-06T02:42:00.000-08:00

Friday the 13th will be here in just a week! I'm a little cautious with my excitement this year. The last time we saw Jason in theatres was in the Freddy vs. Jason and there's just no getting around how terrible that film was. Sure it had some decent kills but it was like they deliberately looked for the worst actors they could find to fill in the parts. The plot had a decent concept but they trashed it with the way it was presented. I mean seriously, how can you expect the audience to go along with the idea that the lead actress met the love of her life when she was 12?! Maybe the real question is how can you cast a lead actor that can't seem to stop smiling even when he's delivering news of someones death? On top of that they had the worst Jason of any Friday movie. I know, How hard is it to be Jason?! You just have to lumber around and stab people in clever ways.

Ok so The remake is on its way and the previews look promising. The movie looks like its going the way of taking it seriously with decent young actors and good direction. I grew up on Jason movies and for some reason He was always my favorite as a kid. Even more so than Freddy or Michael Myers, Jason seemed to resonate with me. It might have been the mask or the fear I had watching him hack up campers. In fact Friday the 13th was one of the first Horror films I have a memory of watching on cable, with my mom of all people, when i was still in day care! Now you know why this kind of work is where I ended up!

Somehow I doubt that this time around we'll see Jason starring in 9 sequels. I don't see the concept of milking a slasher character for multiple sequels lasting beyond 1 or 2 today. I think the Saw movies are probably just about to ruin that for everyone this year. However I'm excited about seeing some old school horror next week! Horror seems to be on a role this year and I just hope it keeps up!

My Bloody Valentine 3-D Review

2009-01-24T00:48:00.001-08:00

When I was a kid I remember watching the original My Bloody Valentine on VHS. Nothing really stood out about it other than the somewhat iconic image of the miners mask. The kills in the movie were always cut away from before you could really see anything so it wasn't much to write home about. So when I heard about the remake I thought they finally found a movie they could improve upon and I was right!

My Bloody Valentine is a fun, scary, and bloody ride that blew me away in 3D! I can't remember when I had more fun watching a horror movie in a theatre. The storyline has been changed quite a bit from the original. The story starts off when a mine collapse that buries several men in the mine. Only 1 survives named Harry Warden who is hospitalized from his injuries. The blame for the cave in is aimed at Tom Hanniger played by Jensen Ackles of the TV series Supernatural. For some reason workers from the mine and lots of kids decide to have a party at the mine even though this tragedy recently happened there. Harry Warden promptly escapes from the hospital and shows up at the mine to slaughter the revellers in true splatter fashion. He's eventually stopped while trying to kill Tom Hanniger when the Sheriff shoots him several times. Harry manages to run into the mine and get away. The film then jumps to 10 years later when Tom Hanniger returns to the town to sell the mine and close it down. Tom's girlfriend has moved on and married the Axel, one of Toms rivals from 10 years ago.

As soon as Tom returns the murders start up again and it seems that Harry Warden has returned to punish the town. There's some amazing kills here and once scene in particular that features a fully naked woman being stalked by the killer for a good 10 minutes of screen time. There were times I was really surprised by how much gore and nudity they seemed to get away with for an R rated movie! The 3D is put to bloody good use here as well. The kills really take advantage of putting that action right in your lap!

The movie really does an excellent job at balancing itself. It never goes to silly and never takes itself too seriously either. Its funny at times, scary at others and bloody as hell all the way! Director Patrick Lussier has redeemed himself after languishing it direct to DVD hell since the mediocre Dracula 2000 films. He's managed to make a very exciting and fun movie! The story does offer a pretty decent twist of an ending and really just left me wanting more when the lights came up.

What I really like about this film is it has taken the concept of 80's slasher films and made it really fun and scary! I felt like a kid watching this movie! I grew up watching 80's slasher films and loved them even though the plots were awful and the acting was bad. In the 90's we had a resugence of slasher films but they were self referential and satires of the 80's films. Today we're seeing a return to the 80's style slasher but with a more serious take and much better acting and production values. This year alone we have 3 memorable Horror icons from the 80's coming back to audiences. My Bloody Valentine has set the bar pretty high for The Upcoming Friday the 13th remake and Halloween 2. I really hope this trend continues for awhile.

If you are a horror fan and a child of the 80's your going to love this movie! Go see it now while you can in bloody 3D!!

4.5 out of 5

Another Year over...

2008-12-30T13:38:00.001-08:00

Wow its just 1 day before 2009 already! We had a great Christmas but I'm very much looking forward to a new year! Its been a busy, hectic year for me with a few bumps along the way and I'm ready to leave 2008 behind. There's going to be some big thing happening just after the new year. The first is a new redesign for HauntedHouse.com which I'm currently working on. Their's big doings going on with Transworld including 2 Haunt Tours that Rogues Hollow will be sponsoring. We just have a lot of stuff still developing so its going to be very exciting year:)

Happy New Year!

Christmas Horror Movies: Black Christmas

2008-12-24T13:12:00.000-08:00

Its Christmas eve and its time to conclude my Christmas horror films series here. We end on the best Christmas Horror film ever, Black Christmas. Directed by Bob Clark, who would later go on to make another Christmas classic called A Christmas Story, Black Christmas is a suspensful horror that really started the slasher movies even though it was filmed years before Halloween.

The story is a very well written and suspenseful one that's something of a mystery as well. It starts out as your basic slasher flick, a sorority of girls enjoying the holidays. A crazed killer hiding in their house and lots of disturbing prank phone calls. The killer is never seen. He's shot much like that of a killer from giallo films in the first person so we only ever see his hands or parts of his body. As you can imagine the girls get picked off one by one finally only leaving the heroine played by the beautiful Olivia Hussey who suspects the killer is actually her boyfriend. There's a wonderful subplot about Hussey's character being pregnant and she wants to abort it. Her boyfriend is pissed about it and we're led to believe he's stalking the house and making the disturbing phone calls. When the local detective, played by the always great John Saxon, determines that the calls are coming from inside the house there's a big showdown between the cops, our heroine and her boyfriend who ends up being at the house at the wrong time. But everyone thinks they have their killer and they leave the shocked Olivia Hussey locked up in the house to rest. Of course she's not alone in the house. The killer is still inside.

Black Christmas is the real proto slasher film. this movie, while short on gore, is high on suspense. Even though the story takes place over a few days the suspense still mounts and your kept guessing as to who the killer is. Its clear how this movie influenced John Carpenter who would go on to direct Halloween 4 years later. Bob Clark tells the story that Carpenter came to him after seeing Black Christmas and asked him how he would do a sequel if he did one. Clark said he would have the killer come home on Halloween night. Carpenter of course went on to make a movie about a killer who comes home on Halloween night. Bob Clark never thought that Carpenter ripped off his idea but its clear how he and his movie truly helped to make Halloween the classic slasher film that it is.

A couple years ago Hollywood tried remaking Black Christmas with very very mixed results. The movie has absolutely no suspense or mystery as to who the killer is. It delves into a new backstory for the killer which is way over the top. There's buckets of blood, 1 dimensional characters and the abortion subplot has been eliminated for a one about a guy who put his sex tape online with one of the girls in the house. The only improvement made in the remake was that it looked very good. The set design, directing, & production is very clean and pretty. However the story is just a shadow of the original.

For Christmas there's nothing like the original 1974 proto-slasher Black Christmas. Director Bob Clark also gave us A Christmas Story some years later which is still a classic Christmas flick that get around the clock play on TBS each year. Unfortunately Bob and his son were killed in a car accident by a drunk driver about a year ago. They had been working on a film and were returning home late.

While Bob may be gone his many films will live on forever. I know I'll be spending Christmas eve with Black Christmas and a Christmas Story every year!

Christmas Horror Movies: Silent Night, Deadly Night

2008-12-20T14:00:00.000-08:00

Boy this was the movie that had a lot of parents pissed off in 1984. Before the film even came out it came under fire for its tv spots and the poster which depicted Santa going down the chimney with an Axe his his hand. As far as Christmas Horror films go this ones pretty decent. The concept is that as a boy named Billy and his family are visiting his grandpa at a retirement home. Grandpa seems non-responsive to the world around him until he's left alone with Billy and then he goes ape shit crazy ranting about how Christmas is the scariest night of the year because Santa is coming to punish the bad kids. Understandably worried now about seeing Santa the family leaves to go home and comes across a broken down car in the road driven by a man in a Santa suit. Of course this is the same Santa that just finished robbing a liquor store and killing the sales clerk. Billy starts to freak out telling his parents to drive on but they don't and Santa kills his parents while Billy runs away and hides in the bushes watching.

Fast forward to years later and Billy is living in a orphanage and still terrified of Santa. It doesn't help that the Mother Superior tries forcing him to sit on Santa's Lap or that he's witness to the Mother Superior beating two kids for having sex. The filmmakers at least make an attempt to make the killing spree he goes on later in life seem plausible. Seeing your parents killed by Santa seems a lot more traumatic than seeing Santa performing oral sex on your mom like the killer in Christmas Evil.

Billy gets older and finds a job at a local toy store and everything seems perfect. In a bad 80's montage we see Billy stocking shelves, cleaning up, helping little kids reach things, while a bad 80's "happy song" plays. However Christmas finally comes to the store and Billy is asked to play Santa for the kids. He reluctantly does it and tells the kids that if they're not good he's going to punish them.

Christmas Eve arrives and the store closes for a little Christmas party. Billy, still dressed as Santa, see's the girl he's had a crush on get attacked by one of his co-workers and he snaps. He kills everyone that works at the store and heads out on the town. We're given some decent creative kills here Billy does decapitations, antler impalings, and bludgonings, All the while screaming "NAUGHTY". Christmas morning Billy heads back to the orphanage to kill Mother Superior but is stopped by a local detective before he can finish the job. The ending leaves a lot to be desired and there could have been some more killings in there too but its still pretty good.

Silent Night, Deadly Night has really become something of a classic Christmas horror movie even with all its failings. Watching it today I wonder if this is where Rob Zombie based his concept of explaining why Michael Myers becomes a psychopath in his remake of Halloween.

Silent Night Deadly Night was followed up by several sequels. The second one is only worth watching for its laughs. I'm really on the fence as to whether it was intentional or not but Silent Night, Deadly Night 2 is hilarious. It features Billy's little brother Ricky as the killer. The actor playing him is so over the top with the character that its almost bizarre. Every line that comes out of his mouth sounds sarcastic and condescending. He goes on a killing spree while he's out on a walk with his girlfriend and ends up killing several people just walking outside their houses. You may have seen a clip from this on YouTube which I've posted just below which has to be seen to be believed. The other sequels are pretty much crap but Silent Night, Deadly Night is a pretty decent 80's slasher film and one that I wouldn't mind seeing remade today.

Now I present to you Garbage Day from Silent Night, Deadly Night 2

Christmas Horror Movies: Don't Open Til Christmas

2008-12-17T18:30:00.000-08:00

Another addition to our alternative holiday movie viewing! Don't Open Til' Christmas falls into the "Its so bad its good" category. This ridiculously cheesy British Production features a serial killer that only kills Santa's. The dialogue is horrendously bad. The opening scene finds 2 lovers making out in a car when they notice that there's a heavy breathing lunatic watching them the man gets upset to which his woman says "oh don't worry about him:" Apparently she's an exhibitionist. On top of that we have really awful breaks in logic. Our Leading lady Kate's father is killed at a Christmas party. The next day her boyfriend takes her to a friends place trying to get her to pose for nude photos and maybe some lesbian action with another model! She's going along with it until she sees a Santa suit and is reminded that her father died the day previous. She leaves but the boyfriend, who's also a suspect, sticks around for a little action with the model. Talk about a sensitive guy!

After 3 Santa killings the cops are still trying to figure out the pattern. No kidding! One of them says: "do you think we have a psycho on our hands?" to when the lead inspector replies "early to find a pattern." Right so the fact that all of them were Santa's isn't a pattern? Priceless!

The storyline gets convoluted with the killer trying to sway the investigation and indicate the lead inspector played by the Director Edmund Perdom who is just awful but in a hilarious way. When we do find out why the killer is psycho we discover he's another child traumatized by seeing his dad, dressed as Santa, having sex at a party. What is it about sex that seems to drive kids to grow up to be killers?

Make no mistake that this movie is bad, really really bad. But the dialogue, lack of logic and bizarreness of it makes it worth watching. It even has a horrible soundtrack complete with bad disco music and lots of shaky camera work. Don't Open til Christmas is Fantastic!

Supernatural TV Series

2008-12-15T18:25:00.000-08:00

If your not watching Supernatural then your missing the best Genre TV series since the X-Files during its prime. The series started out with the "monster of the week" type formula with 2 brothers out searching for their missing father while encountering supernatural beings, ghosts, demons and so on. I really liked the series from the beginning. The Brothers Sam and Dean seem like people you know. Just average likable guys that are thrown into strange situations each week. The show is scary, funny and at times even poignant and touching.

Season 3, in case you missed it really took the show to new places and expanded the universe. Much like The X-Files during its 3rd and 4th seasons the series is really finding its stride and creating a mythology that sucks you in and keeps you there. Season 4 is basically setting up a war between heaven and hell with angels and demons on earth trying to sway the results in their favor. Sam and Dean are still right in the middle of it. Dean spent last summer in Hell while Sam honed his skills at exorcising demons with his mind with the help of a renegade demon named Ruby. Which is creating a very interesting team that's supposed to save the world.

The series will be returning Jan. 15th 2009 with new episodes and frankly I can't wait. If you are missing this show or think its kids stuff since its on the CW then you doing yourself a disservice. I originally thought it was going to be another silly series like Buffy or Charmed when it started but was I ever wrong. Supernatural is a dark, scary and funny ride that I look forward to each week.

Christmas Horror Movies: Chrismas Evil Review (aka You better Watch Out)

2008-12-09T21:01:00.000-08:00

Continuing in my countdown of Christmas Horror films we come to Christmas Evil or also known as Better Watch Out. This little film was released in 1980 by Lloyd Kaufman and Troma Films so you pretty much can guess your not in for the highest level of film entertainment. The film follows Harry who when he was the fragile age of eight saw his mother getting oral sex from Santa Claus. Somehow this really screwed up Harry's little mind and he grows up being obsessed with Santa and Christmas. He wears Christmas Pajamas to bed as an adult and keeps his apartment decked out for the yuletide year round. Not surprisingly Harry also works for a Toy company where he's apparently managed to appear competent enough to get promoted to a management level. In his spare time Harry checks up on neighborhood kids to make sure they are being good. He spies on them from his rooftop and makes a list, checking it many times over. Apparently the parents are oblivious to this creepy single middle-aged man's fascination with their kids. Harry catches one boy reading Penthouse in his room and he practically has a conniption fit getting to his list to record his sighting.

Harry is mocked by his coworkers over his overexcited obsession with making quality toys as opposed to the really crappy toys his company makes. I marvel how someone who is so clearly "off his rocker" can manage to hold down a job let alone ascend to a level of management yet, Harry has. After finding one of his coworkers making fun of him he runs home like a little kid and makes the leap to full bat-shit crazy. He decorates his creepy rapist van like a Christmas sleigh then goes on to spy further on the neighbor kids and hiding in the bushes. Harry can't even get any respect from his younger brother who has a normal life with a couple kids and a house in the suburbs. The brother has really great dialogue like: "when I think about how lame he is I just can't help but get mad."

When the big night finally comes Harry dresses up in his elaborate Santa suit and hits the town delivering toys to the good boys and girls in his neighborhood. He visits the home of the coworker that made fun of him and smothers him in his sleep. He attacks a group of midnight mass-er's leaving church, killing a couple. But he also does some good things like bringing toys to an orphanage whilst creepily practicing his Santa voice and gets down at a Christmas party. The best part about the Christmas party scene is when he tells the kids they better be good or he's going to bring them something horrible. Apparently if you are a 10 year old reading Penthouse magazine that means Harry will hide in your bushes with mud on his face and try to scare you straight.

After all the carnage Harry tries hiding out but his little killing spree is all over the news and everyone is looking for him. After nearly being hunted down by his neighbors Harry runs to his brother's house to escape. However his ol' bro isn't too understanding of what he's done. A really lame car chase ensues and Harry ends up driving off a bridge that looks more like a little ditch and supposedly is dead. Lucky us that Christmas Evil didn't do well enough to warrant a sequel.

Christmas Evil really takes itself too seriously to make it fun and there's very little blood so there's really nothing here for gore hounds either. Visually the film looks really rough and dated. I'd say skip this one unless you're a completist when it comes to Holiday horror. There's really not much here to like except for the occasional unintentional humor of bad acting and storytelling.

2 out of 10

Christmas Horror Movie Review: Gremlins

2008-12-04T11:37:00.000-08:00

For Horror and Halloween addicts like myself, Christmas always comes too fast after October and dominates everything. You can't go outside without being bombarded by Christmas lights and cheerful holiday melodies. TV is no help with all its holiday programming taking over before the Thanksgiving Turkey even comes out of the oven. If your like me all this good cheer can get old and you need some alternative holiday viewing. To help I've decided to put together some reviews of my favorite holiday horror films to chase away the Christmas blues. First up is on my list is Gremlins!

Having not seen Gremlins since I was a kid I had kinda forgotten that the movie takes place on Christmas eve. For the uninitiated Gremlins is about, well gremlins. They start out cute and furry but if you don't follow the rules they can get ugly real fast. The rules are just about one the most poorly thought out plot devices I've seen in a movie but hey it was the 80's man. Rule number one, they don't like bright light. Rule Number 2, don't get them wet. I should mention that if you do get them wet they spontaneously and instantly reproduce! I think there's probably a lot of loopholes to this rule. What if they dribble some soda out of their mouth? How do they clean themselves if they can't get wet? Will their own saliva result in a reproductive orgy? If that wasn't dumb enough the 3rd rule takes the cake: Don't feed them after midnight. How does the biological system of a Gremlin's body know its after midnight or not? And since the the gremlins originated from China does that mean you have to account for the time in China or do they adjust based on the time zone?

Moving on. Randall Peltzer, a hack inventor, decides to buy his son Billy a gift for Christmas while in China. The gift is a cute little animal called a mogwai. The old man who owns the mogwai doesn't want to sell it to him but the old mans grandson sneaks out with the little critter and sells it to Randall. Reciting the 3 inane warnings Randall goes on his way with his new pet. All starts out well when he returns home and everyone loves the new little pet which they name Gizmo. But they break the first rule and get him wet which results in a bunch of little babies popping out of his back that subsequently grow to the same size as Gizmo in just seconds. Not only that but they're intelligent and can speak bits of English in cute ways almost immediately.

The new batch of Mogwai are a devious bunch. Let by the mysterious mohawked one name Stripe they plot to fool Billy into feeding them after midnight. Which he does which results in them becoming reptilian-like Gremlins. Billy's Kill happy mother manages to wipe out all the gremlin except for that clever and devious Spike, who escapes and heads straight to the YMCA to hatch up some friends. The army of Gremlins basically massacres most of the town in an orgy of Christmas violence.

Billy and the very very hot Pheobe Cates manage to blow up all the Gremlins while they watch Snow White at the local cineplex. However once again Stripe escapes and manages to cause even more havoc at a local department store where Gizmo gets to shine and save the day finally wiping out Stripe once and for all.

Somehow Billy and his family are never held accountable for having a pet that multiplies, turns vicious and murders half the townspeople in one night. In fact even when the old man returns to get Gizmo back he seems nonchalant about the carnage and is more upset that Gizmo has been taught to watch TV. Talk about priorities!

For all the ridiculousness of this movie and its concept it was still a great movie when I was a kid. It scared the crap out of me and made me want my own Gizmo bad. In fact I had a Gizmo doll for a long time after I saw the movie. Looking at it today it hasn't aged to well and the concept, which was dumb before, seems even worse now. But its still a fun movie and good if your looking for some alternative holiday viewing.

6 out of 10

REVIEW: The X-Files: I want to Believe

2008-12-02T21:50:00.000-08:00

Last summer the X-Files returned with a new film after 7 years and the general consensus from the critics was that the film was pretty much crap. I was so disappointed with the reviews that I skipped the movie and instead went to see the Dark Knight. Now a few months later I've picked up the film on DVD and finally got the chance to make my own judgment and my take isn't nearly as harsh.

The film picks up some time after the end of the series with Mulder pretty much living in exile, since he's wanted by the FBI, and Scully working for a catholic hospital. Scully, as any fan of the show should know, has always been wrestling with her faith over science and at times that made for thought provoking episodes and at its worse it put me to sleep. Here she still seems to be struggling with it while Mulder spends his days cutting out newspaper articles related to the paranormal and posting them all over his office.

Mulder however gets a chance to clear his name and start fresh when a FBI agent goes missing. The current "spooky" girl, agent Dakota (Amanda Peet) at the FBI calls him in for his perspective on the case and on the lone lead, a pedophile priest psychic named Father Joe played by the always great Billy Connelly. Dakota's partner played by a very straight Xzibit really seems like a tacked on character. He and Dakota really are never fully developed and never add much to the proceedings other than being the catalyst that gets Mulder and Scully into the case.

Father Joe leads the agents to body parts frozen in the snow and Mulder gets caught up in fully believing that this man is seeing these things in his head and has no connection to the crimes. Meanwhile everyone else is more than skeptical. Its basically the typical Mulder situation of he's the only one who wants to believe. Scully struggles with accepting Father Joe as a messenger of God when he's also hurt many children. There's a lot boiling under the surface here but it's nothing that we haven't seen explored in the series before.

The conclusion, while interesting, is never really explained well enough to make it have an impact so the mystery seems rushed and wrapped up before your sure of what really happened. Skinner shows up, apparently just to make fans happy, and helps Scully search for Mulder. While it was nice seeing them together again it really felt unnecessary in regards to the story.

Overall the X-files: I want to believe feels like an average episode of the series late in the run. It brings up some interesting ideas and really does a decent job of expanding on the relationship between Mulder and Scully a little but it never really delivers the goods. The film seem like it really is intended for fans and not new comers to the series.

I was never a fan of the episodes where Scully struggles with her faith and I think the same can be said for most watchers of the show. However devoted fans will find a lot here to like and get from the dynamic of both characters fighting with their beliefs.

Visually the film looks good but again nothing spectacular. Filmed during the winter in Vancouver, Director Chris Carter does take advantage of making the locations look good and giving it that gloom that the series had the first 5 seasons. I can see why this film didn't review well. It really does very little to expand on the series and the story is small and really not given the films focus. This feels like more of a stepping stone to a larger story. Almost like we're being set up for another movie and this was just the obligatory filler to explain what's been happening with our heroes since the series ended.

Unfortunately this film bombed at the box office so I'm not too hopeful that we'll see a proper sequel. However, Frank Spotnitz, co-writer of the film, has already said that there's talk of doing another that would address the big alien colonization thread from the series. I'd be very surprised if this actually happens considering the audience for these movies has shrunk considerably. I lost interest in the show when David Duchovny left and Robert Patrick came in. I didn't even watch seasons 8 & 9 until last year and then I pretty much hated them. The series really was run into the ground in the end and the fans were screwed. I'm not sure if it can be repaired by any film at this point. While I'd like to see an alien colonization movie I just don't see it happening. As sad as it is to say I think this film pretty much closes the book on the X-Files until we get the remake in 10 more years.

5.5 Out of 10

Office of the Dead!

2008-11-30T17:25:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I visited Beyond the Grave Productions and was able to check out almost their entire line of products in person. If you've seen these amazing life size monsters on their website I can honestly say that the photos don't do the product justice. I was really amazed by the amount of detail and time that goes into these pieces and the body forms that they're built on are the best I've ever seen. The coolest part is they completely break down into smaller chunks to make it easy to transport them or put them away for the season.

I picked up my very own "Unearthed" zombie for display in my office which you see to the left. I also took a full length photo of it under studio conditions so you can better see the detail. I really love this prop and it looks great in my office. The joints in the arms move allowing me to pose the character in a wide variety of ways. I can move the arms up at the should and at the elbow as well. I hooked up a few mini spotlights to give it the full effect and it looks very creepy standing silently in the corner of my office! I'll be scaring the neighbors with this thing come next Halloween:)

I'll be redesigning almost all of Beyond the Grave's Marketing and website in the next 2-3 weeks. Its going to be a great step up for this company that will be making a big splash at Transworld this year. Just stay tuned for more very soon!

Check out Beyond the Grave Productions to see their current product line-up

Review of Dark Floors Movie

2008-11-19T16:20:00.001-08:00

Rock bands and movies don't have a very good track record, Just think back to the KISS movie from the late 70's. But The Finnish Rock band Lordi are a little different. The band members all dress as monsters and have pretty elaborate stage shows.

Director Pete Riski and Mr. Lordi himself came up with a story involving an autistic girl whose father, concerned for her health after a cat scan incident, wants to remove her from the hospital. However the 2 along with the security guard, a vagrant, doctor, and the obligatory whiny business man, all get stuck in the elevator. When the doors open they find themselves in an abandoned hospital. What follows is your typical by the numbers horror flick with each member of the group being picked off one by one as they traverse the floors in an attempt to exit the hospital.

Each floor of the hospital features a member of Lordi as the tormentor. Luckily none of them actually speak, they just scream and attack the group. The story does some cool things with time in the film and the director does a decent job of making things creepy. However the acting is pretty horrendous. The film is shot in English for some reason and whether the actors are unaccustomed to English or are just terrible is hard to know. It doesn't help that these are character you've seen in countless other horror films. The security guard that tries to rationalize the situation and be the hero. The caring father who only wants to get his kid out of the hospital. The concerned and hot female doctor, and of course the arrogant businessman who is only concerned with his own safety. You don't really care about any of them since they're all 2 dimensional empty characters.

Despite that the film does have atmosphere and decent visuals. The Lordi characters are pretty scary in their own right and do a pretty good job here of playing the stalkers. However the movie completly cops out with a really lame ending that explains nothing and pretty much feels like it was another of those "how do we end this thing" moments where the easist way out was chosen.

I suppose if your a fan of Lordi or cheesy by the numbers horror films then this is up your alley but you'll find nothing deeper than an average haunted house movie here.

3.5 out of 10

Dance of the Dead

2008-11-15T13:09:00.000-08:00

If you like those somewhat cheesy 80's horror movies like the Return of the Living Dead series then you might want to check out "Dance of the Dead". What a fun little throwback to those 80's horror flicks with modern day blood and gore. The basic premise is that the local nuclear power plant is contaminating the cemetary and causing the dead to return to life on the night of the senior prom. A group of Sci-fi nerds end up being the only ones who can take care of the problem with the help of an gun crazy football coach. Its funny, well written and bloody as hell! Go check out Dance of the Dead!

The Simpsons Teehouse of Horror

2008-11-13T13:09:00.001-08:00

I've been spending some time the last couple weeks trying to get caught up on TV I missed while I was in Arizona and yesterday I got to watch this years Simpsons Halloween episode which starts out well with an election parody but then falls apart and becomes the worst Halloween episode ever. There's only one segment in the show that really deals with Halloween while the other 2 parody a basic cable TV series and a Christmas segment parody of Transformers. I mean really, who's brilliant idea was it to have a Christmas story in the Halloween episode?

The Simpsons has long ago passed its prime and its simply sunk into the rut of making parodies of much better earlier episodes from 15 years ago. Remember when the Halloween episodes parodied horror and sci fi movies? The show has really lost its heart and ability to tell coherent well written stories. Here's to hoping that someday it might find its way back and stop trying to be "Family Guy".

Review of Jeff Martin and The Armada

2008-11-12T20:46:00.000-08:00

I feel I have to preface this article by saying that Americans most likely will have no clue as to who the Tea Party was or who Jeff Martin is so this is written more for my Canadian friends. Also I am by no means a professional album reviewer, I'm just offering up my 2 cents so take it for what its worth.

I was a fan of the Tea Party the moment I heard one of their songs some 13 years ago. The band had their angst filled moments with Transmission and then blossomed into a journey of self discovery with TripTych and the Interzone Mantras. Their core however was always their eastern fueled sound. The final Tea Party Album, the Seven Circles, was a step away from that sound in favor of more radio friendly fare. The band broke up shortly after that album (not surprisingly to me at least) and front man Jeff Martin headed to Ireland to do his inevitable soul cleansing record called, Exile and the Kingdom. I enjoyed that album but found it to be a record with very little direction or purpose. Some of the songs sounded like rejected Tea Party tracks from the Edges of Twilight era while others felt perhaps under produced or even unfinished. It was a record of love and farewells to a different era and while it was a decent outing it was a small and quiet record.

Now Jeff Martin has formed a new band with drummer Wayne Sheehy called The Armada and I’m happy to say "that’s more like it". The record definitely revisits the eastern influences that infused the Tea Party and yet it progresses the sound and content to new territory. While the songs on Exile and the Kingdom were personal and mostly acoustic, here the songs touch on a variety of controversial subjects with solid production.

The album kicks off with "Going Down Blues" a blues-rock song that makes references to the story of Robert Johnson and his deal with the devil to be the best bluesman. "Chinese Whispers" infuses the Far East sounds of China which is something Martin has not visited in the past and the result works well even though it flirts with sounding like a parody.

"A line in the Sand" is the environmental track of the album alerting us to the dangers of ignoring the pain of Mother Nature in modern times. I heard this track in an acoustic form a while back and wasn’t that crazy about it but here in its final version it's a pretty strong song. "Morocco" is my favorite track on this album. The song is a scathing critique of the treatment of women in the Middle East and the barbaric concept of honor killings. It beautifully infuses the sounds of rock with Middle Eastern sounds and instruments like only Jeff Martin can do.

The reprise of "Black Snake Blues", a track that also appeared on Exile and the Kingdom, really seems unnecessary here. While it was one of the best songs on Exile it really doesn't fit all that well in this record. However it is an improved and better produced version of the song. The Final songs on the track really go back to the days of the scary Tea Party songs from the Transmission era and give the album a strong end.

While I doubt the Jeff Martin will ever shake away the memories of the Tea Party, not that he should, I think this album shows that he is far from becoming insignificant. The Armada is a strong record and one that will easily pull in fans of what made the Tea Party so great to begin with. Martin is playing things safer this time out by revisiting the elements that made his past so successful and there's nothing wrong with that at all. He’s managed to bring new life to his sound and produced a solid rock album.

Thanks to Victoria at CreepedOut.ca!

2008-11-10T22:25:00.000-08:00

Today I received a really nice surprise in the mail! Victoria at Creepedout.ca was so happy with the work we did for her online store that she sent a gift package of holiday cookies and treats to my office. The image to the left is a snapshot of the package. The contents are very yummy I must say and my wife and I are enjoying them very much! Big thanks to Victoria and CreepedOut.ca for the lovely gift!

Back home

2008-11-06T14:35:00.000-08:00

After 2 very long months experiencing the haunted house business hands on I am glad to be back home here in Ohio and enjoying the fall weather. I learned a lot the last 2 months about the haunt business and I hope to be able to apply that to my own work and clients in the next year. I don't expect I'll be jumping into managing a haunt again next year but it was definitely a learning experience.

While I really disliked Arizona I did meet some great people and had a pretty good team working for me while I was out there. Now its time to get back to my regular life and get Rogues Hollow Ready for 2009!

Domo in Target for Halloween

2008-10-20T02:28:00.000-07:00

I recently went to Target and was a little surprised by their use of a Japanese cartoon character for their Halloween promotion. Domo-Kun has come to America! Domo is a blocky monster type character that has been appearing in stop motion pieces on NHK television in Japan for awhile. Now Target is using the character to promote Halloween at their stores which is pretty cool! I really find it interesting how Japanese culture seems to pop up in the most unlikely of places from time to time.

I had hoped I could do more little articles like this over Halloween but I'm in Arizona managing a haunted house and not surprisingly I have very little free time. Oh well maybe next year:)

Stolen Website artwork

2008-10-16T00:52:00.000-07:00

It seems like every year at Halloween I end up finding a site or 2 out there that has copied or taken artwork from my site or one of my clients. Its usually not a huge deal but this year I have an infringer that has taken the cake. http://www.die-site.com/ has not only stolen artwork but has taken whole site designs from several of my clients sites and turned them into cruddy stitched together mess that just amazes me. This loser has taken a tremendous amount of time to steal flash images, whole page designs and even "buy ticket" buttons and is passing them off as their own. The site http://www.die-site.com/ has stolen elements from my terrortest.com, atmosfearuk.com, thecarnagehauntedhouse.com, The Nest, HexintheHarvest.com and a few more too. I've never seen such a blatant rip off of my work!

UPDATE: 10-16-08
I contacted the company that ripped off all my work and they claim they hired someone else on the net to do the site and didn't know the art was stolen. They have since removed the artwork but I'll be keeping an eye on them to make sure it doesn't pop up again somewhere else.

Busy, Busy, Busy,

2008-09-21T14:39:00.000-07:00

If you've been having problems contacting me there is a good reason. I've taken on managing a haunted house in Arizona this year. It been a big undertaking but we're open now and I'm finally getting caught up on emails and some loose ends for clients. I'll be updating RoguesHollow.com in the coming weeks with all my 2008 work so far. If you've emailed me recently and are still waiting on a reply I will be doing my best to get back with you this week. Thanks for everyone's patience:)

So it begins...

2008-08-20T00:37:00.001-07:00

I always bemoan the fact that the Christmas decorations are usually right next Halloween section each October in all the major shopping chains. The foul stench of cinnamon and gingerbread slowly encroaching on the delicious scent of pumpkin and spice. The sound of jingling bells drowning out the cackles of a grotesque witch as October 31 gets nearer. Its something I've begrudgingly accepted since, well I really have no choice. Halloween only comes to store once a year and usually not till Mid to late September. So you can imagine my surprise to find Halloween staring back at me from the Yankee Candle store at my local mall.

Halloween seems to be showing up in small pockets all over the place already.. in August. Yankee Candle is kicking things off early with their great NEW Halloween Candles. I've always love Yankee Candles' Spiced Pumpkin scent and I try to get one every fall. I was pleased to see that Yankee has expanded on the Halloween concept with not only Spice pumpkin, renamed pumpkin patch, but also Candy Corn, Cider web, Boo-Nilla and Purr-Chouli. My favorite new scent is definetly the Candy Corn candle which smells a lot like vanilla and candy corn. Imagine really really fresh candy corn if you can. Not that I have ever had really fresh candy corn. In fact I'm pretty sure really fresh candy corn is probably like a black hole. We know it must exist but have never found it.

Of course Yankee has also brought out some great accesories for the canldes including spooky luminaries and candle holders. My wife really liked the Halloween cat candle holder and the pumpkin topper so thats what we ended up getting.

And Thus the Halloween season has begun already and my house smells of spiced pumpkin in August.

Midnight Syndicate CD Trailer

2008-08-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

I recently finished production on a cool little web trailer to promote Midnight Syndicate's new CD release called The Dead Matter: Cemetery Gates. I've been a fan of Midnight Syndicate since before I ever entered the haunt industry as a designer so it was really cool to work with them finally! Check it out at The Midnight Syndicate Official Website

The Dark Knight

2008-07-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks back I wrote about my concern for the quality of the X-Files movie that was released this weekend. My concerns were rather founded it seems since the critics and fans alike are calling it not only a bad movie but one of the worst of the summer. I read one fan say if this had been an episode of the X-Files Series that it would have been considered the worst episode of the run. That's saying something. Needless to say I decided to skip having my favorite TV show of all time slaughtered before my eyes and instead chose to catch the Dark Knight.

I could gush over the dark knight pretty easily. This movie is not only the best movie of the summer, It was for me, the best superhero movie ever! I was shocked at the level of storytelling in it and the overall message of it. Heath Ledger became the Joker and that's all I can say. I never thought during the film, "oh that's Heath Ledger". Being a fan of the comics when I was young I was just blown away that a film maker finally understood Batman's struggle and got it right.

The film is so much better than the first one that It almost doesn't feel like its part of that series. I would almost venture to say that it was a masterpiece of cinema and storytelling. I can't remember the last time I walked out of a theater and said "wow!" and meant it in an un-ironic way:)

Ok so even though I love this film here's the problems I found: Batman's raspy voice is skirting the edge of unintentionally funny. The whole trip to Hong Kong probably could have been cut for time but I did enjoy it none the less. The Sonar technology seemed just a touch over the top in its final use. I still find Maggie Gyllenhall as off-putting.

That said these problems don't hamper the film one Iota and its just a great, great movie. The message of hope, and "Doing good" are heady subjects in this film but they're rather timely and well handled. If you haven't seen this film yet go do it. I'm going again next week:)

Fear Itself on NBC

2008-07-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

The horror anthology has to be one of the trickiest things to get right. There have been countless attempts, some damn near perfect (Creepshow) some mediocre (Tales from the Crypt) and some just awful (Masters of Horror).

Mick Garris created Masters of Horror on Showtime a couple years back. The episodes were being written and directed by so called "Masters" of the genre such as John Carpenter, Stuart Gordon, John Landis etc. The episodes were mostly bad. So bad in fact that after watching the 4th episode of the first season I cancelled my Showtime Subscription. The second season didn't fare much better. The series seem to allow the directors and writers to experiment a little too much and it often seem to hurt the episode.

This Year Garris and his crew packed up and moved the show to NBC, changing the name to Fear Itself. The episodes of Fear itself so far have been a little improved in the move. I imagine the reasoning for this is simple: Fear Itself is going to have to fight to stay on the air. Therefore the episodes have to appeal to wider audiences, be scarier, and provide conclusions that don't piss off the viewer. For the most part it does seem to be working and the show has been more enjoyable with a few exceptions.

The most recent episode was the Zombie episode directed by Darren Lynn Bouseman (Saw 2, 3, 4, Repo!) and it was a fairly entertaining romp. The twist ending seemed unnecessary and very unbelievable. However for something that is fairly low budget they did a decent job of creating a Zombie apocalypse scenario.

It will be interesting to see if the series can keep up the momentum it does have and keep from becoming stale and boring. Either way its nice to have a decent summer horror series for once.

My Concerns about X-Files 2

2008-07-18T01:46:00.000-07:00

In 1993 when the X-Files first aired, I was a Freshman in High School and very ready to believe in the adventures of Mulder and Scully. I was hooked on the show before the opening credits even ran. It captivated my mind and kept me hungry for more week after week. I followed the show thereafter religiously and went to see the first movie back in 98' on opening day. Then the show started to become too convoluted with outrageous storylines and a ridiculous arc about Scully's baby. By season 8 I had pretty much given up on the show and missed the final season altogether.

Then last year the rumblings began about a new film that would reunite everyone's favorite FBI agents for another adventure. Enough time had passed and the bad taste of the last couple seasons of the X-Files was a distant memory and so my excitement for this new film was very high. I read up on all the news and leaked info, what little there was, and waited eagerly for the first trailer, which really told me nothing about the film. Now here we are only a week away from its premiere and I still have no idea what the movie is about. The marketing for this film is boring (just look at the poster above) and the TV spots and trailers aren't doing a whole lot to get me jazzed about this film. So I'm more than a little concerned. I know the Chris Carter is trying to keep the story under wraps but it feels like its gone beyond just secrecy on the plot and now I'm worried they're trying to keep the lid on a stinker of a film before it comes out. I really hope this is not the case.

Either way I know where I'll be next weekend. While I'm concerned about the quality of the film the chance to see Mulder and Scully together again is good enough for me for now. I just hope we get a solid outing that doesn't dissapoint.

First Video shoot for Commercial and Web

2008-07-13T00:29:00.001-07:00

Something I've been slowly gravitating towards is video & Film and last night I finally got my first stab at it. Unfortunately the weather wasn't interested in my plans and decided to rain on them. However we were able to get quite a bit shot but missed out on the final zombies walking through a cemetery shots that would have taken about 10-20 more minutes to get. Oh well. I guess for the first try it went pretty well. I learned some things that I'll do different next time but overall it went pretty well. The image you see to the left is a still taken during the shoot.

Thanks to Scary Boy Productions for Delivering to my door those fantastic tombstones you can see in the back ground, Thanks to Steve at Screamline for getting me a axe just when I needed it! and A Big thanks to my actors, My sister Melissa and her Boyfriend Brian and his Brother Kevin. Thanks a lot!

Next the editing and the trailer creation:) Stay tuned!

A Package from Splatter FX

2008-06-27T13:49:00.001-07:00

A while back I ordered my own "Nate" corpse costume by SplatterFX.net whom I shared booth space with at Transworld. So today I received my costume plus 2 clown masks that I'll be using in an upcoming video shoot I'm doing for a haunt.

The Nate Costume is amazing and I can't wait to get the chance to use it! The clown masks have that psychotic ghoul clown look and the quality is fantastic! Big thanks to Kyle at Splatter FX!

Viral Marketing Campaigns - TRU BLOOD

2008-06-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

I love viral marketing campaigns! Last year Nine Inch Nails did an amazing job promoting their album "Year_Zero" by using viral videos, emails, and websites set 15 years in the future. I've done viral campaigns for my own clients as well.

So today in the mail I recieved a vial of blood that says TRU BLOOD : Synthetic Blood (See photo). The label says: "Tru Blood is pure, a substitute for the real thing. It will forever alter the way we liove and interact with the human world. You are on eof the first to receive a sample and become a pioneer fo this eminent change. We invite you to become willing participants on this journey and tell other of our kind what you think of the product. IT HAS BEGUN"

The vial of blood itself says the blood is essentially sugar water. THere's a web address on the label as well http://chishio.jp/ which has several panels or photos on it written in some ancient "Rune-like" language that some are saying is sumarian.

I've done some research on Tru Blood and have discovered that this is a Japanese product designed to eliminate the need for vampires to feed on humans. Its all a campaign to promote Alan Ball's New HBO Series called "True Blood" about a world where Vampires have made their existence known after the introduction by a Japanese Company of Synthetic blood.

This is a great ad campaign so I can't wait to see what they do next for it!

Portfolio Updates - NEW SITES & MORE!

2008-06-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

I just added a bunch of new sites that have been completed recently. I'll have a few more to add next week and I have tons of new art to show off if I get the time to get it on the site next week. I'm really proud of our output right now so check out our new sites and let us know what you think! visit our portfolio now

Some more cool stuff is coming up including some new experiments in video.

Midwest Haunters Convention This weekend!

2008-06-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

AS you may have expected Rogues Hollow Productions will be at the Midwest Haunters Convention in Columbus Ohio, downtown at the convention center, This Saturday and Sunday. The show is free so even if your not a haunt owner or vendor you can still check out all the spooky goodness. Be sure to stop by an say hi:)

Since I'll be at the convention this weekend I may be a bit slow to respond to emails till next week.

Kudos from clients

2008-05-27T23:23:00.001-07:00

I don't normally like to brag about my work but some of my clients certainly do. I just got this great email from Chris Ainsworth of www.thornhillwoodshauntedhouse.com a website that I just finished for him last week. Here's what he had to say:

Hi Chris,

I just wanted to congratulate you for the outstanding work you did creating my web site.

Everyone that has visited it, is freaking out how amazing it is for a home haunt site, the haunt industry is extremely lucky to have such a talented artist as yourself.

I was very impress by all the extra details you added to my site, it showed that you took pride in your work and made what I invisioned come alive.

I would not hesitate to recommend your nightmarish creations to the Haunt Industry.

Regards,

Chris Ainsworth

Thornhill Woods Haunted House

You can check out Thornhill Woods here. As you can probably imagine I'm very busy with sites and art right now and I'm working feverishly to get a lot done. Thanks for everyones patients as we get through this busy time:) BTW: Lots of cool art and sites are coming online very soon!

2008 Transworld Wrap-up

2008-03-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Vegas and all I can say is its great to be back in the rather moist climes of Ohio after drying out in the desert the last few days. I mean literally my skin was screaming for some water! That said I did have a good time in Vegas but I think I'll be happy to see the show return to Chicago in 2009. There's so much going on at Transworld that it can be frustrating to deal with Vegas in addition to working at a trade show. Oh and did I mention the walking? You have to walk a mile to go anywhere in vegas. Every day I had to walk what felt like a mile to and from the show through ringing casinos and dank parking structures! But even with all that the show was fun and I did get to meet with friends and clients and show off our new Spooksperson product. Didn't get to see the new Spooksperson product at the show? Hang in there I'll be launching a new site, www.Spooksperson.com very soon to really show it off.

Big thanks to SplatterFX / Midnight Studios for sharing booth space with me this year. I'll be talking more about them in a future blog. I highly recommend you check out their product line of awesome masks at www.splatterfx.net. Their new Zombie suit is simply awesome and very reasonably priced. See the image below:

For more images from the show go to our gallery

See us at Transworld

2008-03-06T14:19:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to announce That Rogues Hollow Productions will be at Transworld in booth #90003! Be sure to stop by and say hello! We're sharing our booth with a new mask company and together we're offering a joint product that I think will be very exciting! This new product is going to be a great sales tool for haunted attractions. Its something you can use on your website as well as at your location and its going to be a must see! On top of that we'll be offering our 2008 website marketing packages and showing off some of our latest work. See you in Vegas!

Competition in the Industry

2008-02-11T15:56:00.000-08:00

Many times over the years I've been asked: what makes Rogues Hollow Stand out from its competitors. I always cringe a little when I hear this question. Its not because I'm afraid to defend the work I do but more about the nature of the question. A person that asks this question may be asking it with total sincerity expecting to hear some philosophy behind what we do. In those cases I like answering the question. On the other hand there are those that ask the question out of not ever having seen our work. Then there are those who are looking for a discount or a deal on the work. So I want to answer the question now and hopefully cover all the angles of the question. I'll eventually include this on the about page of the site as well.

What makes Rogues Hollow Productions different than our competitors? Our style and the way we do things. Our style has always been more cinematic and suggestive than most of our competitors. My personal philosophy when it comes to dark art is that the less you see the better, the more you suggest with the image makes it have more of an impact. Not everyone would agree with me and there are artists out there that take the "in your face" approach to haunted house artwork. There are others that do more cartoonish or pulp looking artwork. Its up to the attraction owner to decide who they think will do the best job at representing their haunt. Obviously the Rogues Hollow Website has a portfolio that provides many examples of the work we've done in the past. Our competitors also have portfolios if their work. If your making the decision on who to choose you should be looking at the artwork and basing it on what you feel your haunt should have as its image and not on anything else. There are those that expect the designer to give them a discount or do something to entice them to choose them as their designer and those people don't have the best interests of their haunt in mind if this is how their making their decision. You shouldn't be looking for the best deal when it comes the most important aspect of getting people to come to your attraction.

That said our packages are very reasonable considering all they include. We're really a one stop shop when it comes to design, websites, and marketing and its hard to beat all we do. In the future we'll only be offering more and at Transworld we'll be offering a new product in conjunction with another vendor that will further change for the better how you market your haunted house.

We do have a philosophy and its that we are never satisfied with what we do. We never stop innovating or creating new ways to do things. We are always trying to evolve and get better and that's not going to stop. We don't play politics or favorites and each of our clients is a unique individual that deserves our very unique style and ability. Are we perfect? Of course not we make mistakes just like everyone else but we will do our best to make it right if given the chance. That's why we're different and why we have so many clients that continue to come back to us year after year after year.

If you asked us about what sets us apart recently, please don't feel like I'm calling you out on it or anything. I've been asked this question at least a couple times in the last month and I'm sure I'll hear it many more times. I'm not really trying to answer it once and for all but I felt that it really needs to be addressed on this site. Thanks for reading!

So What's next? You'll have to wait and see when you come to Transworld in March!

Site Updates & News

2007-11-29T14:24:00.000-08:00

I just updated the portfolio with new images from the work we've done over the 2007 Halloween Season. Check it out by clicking here! Also you'll find some new stuff in the downloads section finally! I have added a couple high resolution images from Halloween and I hope to have some more soon!

Speaking of Halloween the gallery section of the site has been updated with loads of images from our Halloween celebration at home and Trick or Treat night which was a blast! I never tire of scaring little kids! Click here to check them out.

What else are we up to? Well I'm putting the finishing touches on the first movie poster by Rogues Hollow Productions. It's a little independent comedy film that will soon be doing the film festival circuit. Stay tuned for more on that.

On top of that we're gearing up for the tradeshow season which begins in March with Transworld 2008. Right now we're planning on being there and we may be bring some new stuff to the market. Things are still in the planning stages but its looking good! You'll just have to wait and see what it is!

More Updates Forthcoming

2007-10-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

I've been swamped lately so you'll have to forgive me for the lack of updates. I just added a slew of new sites we've been doing and I should be adding lots of spiffy new graphics by the end of October and even more sites!

It's been a very busy season here and I can't wait to show off all the cool stuff we've done;) Hang in there!

Out for the week of June 30th - July 10th

2007-06-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

We'll be away from the office getting a little vacation from June 30th to July 10th. We'll be back in the office on July 11th. Any emails or calls will be returned as soon as possible when we return. Thanks for your patience!

HauntCon 2007 wrap up!

2007-05-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

I'm back from Hauntcon and am doing my best to return calls and get caught up with everything that happened while I was gone. Big thanks to all those that attended my Seminar on Web Marketing. It was a great turn out and thanks for all the great comments. I had a great time at Hauntcon and am already looking forward to the next one.

Updates to Portfolio

2007-02-20T13:43:00.000-08:00

Even though I'm still in the middle of several new sites I wanted to put some new stuff up on the portfolio so you can see what it is I'm up to. The New Logo and Poster for Thrillvania's 2007 season is now available for viewing. I think it looks fantastic! I took the photo of the house myself in 2006 and was finally able to create a poster deserving of the Attraction that is Thrillvania:) There's also a new poster of a related promotion for thrillvania as well. Visit the Portfolio now to check it out!

The new site for Thrillvania is nearing completion and if your coming to Transworld this weekend you can get a sneak peak at it. I hope to see as many people as possible there!

Rogues Hollow at the Haunt & Attractions Show at Transworld This weekend!

2007-02-19T10:20:00.000-08:00

The biggest Halloween show of the year is taking place this weekend, Feb. 23 - 26 in Rosemont IL, and Rogues Hollow will be there. We'll be in the HauntedHouse.com booth and we'll be showing off some new work recently completed to Thrillvania.com as well as talking about our new packages for 2007! Stop by and find out why you should have Rogues Hollow Productions take your Haunt or Attraction to the next level! For more information on the show visit: www.hauntshow.com

Interview on Rotting Flesh Radio

2007-01-08T09:36:00.000-08:00

I recently did an interview for Rotting Flesh Radio and its currently up now on their website! I talk about Rogues Hollow, FearCast, and TheStrangerThings.com so go check it out at RottingFleshRadio.com

Our Yearly Christmas Letter to our Clients and Friends

2006-12-11T10:58:00.000-08:00

Happy Horridays from Rogues Hollow Productions!

It's been a big and exciting year and now it's almost over! I hope that this letter finds you well and that 2006 has been a good to you. With the trade show season only a couple months away it certainly feels like we're getting less and less of a brake every year so I hope that your able to take it easy this Holiday and find some time to spend with family and friends.

Rogues Hollow had a good year and we're already gearing up for the New Year with new marketing packages, web stores, new sites and more! So without further ado lets get on to business!

FearCast.com for 2007 - Internet Marketing Assault Packages

Our ever popular web site packages are getting even bigger and better for 2007. We're adding more MySpace and Viral marketing options as well as a heavy duty flash package for those who really want to immerse their audience in the legend of their haunt, band or film.

In the past the FearCast packages have been geared towards haunted attractions. That hasn't changed for 2007 but we realized that these packages would also work very well for other events, Bands, Films, TV shows, and much more. So if you fit in one of those categories, or are a haunted attraction owner then you owe it to yourself to see what these packages are and how they can help promote your business. Visit FearCast.com to view our packages, see case studies about past clients, view examples of web sites, artwork and more!

Past Clients get a discount on FearCast packages if they order before Feb. 10, 2007! Email us from the FearCast web site to find out how much of a discount you can get! Visit FearCast.com Today!

RoguesHollow.com Web site Re-design complete!

RoguesHollow.com also received a facelift for 2007. We made it easier to get around and added a bunch of content. The Portfolio section has been updated and completely revamped with images of past logo designs, posters, and more along with a pretty complete list of the web sites we've created. Visit RoguesHollow.com to check it out and email us from the site to let us know how we did!

TheStrangerThings.com Opens its doors to the public!

Perhaps you might remember us mentioning TheStrangerThings.com a year or so ago? After a lot of fine - tuning we finally opened the store for business! TheStrangerThings.com is where you can find Royalty-Free Music that can be used in productions, TV/Film, Presentations, Web sites, Haunted Attractions, events and more! For a one time fee you can download our creepy cinematic music tracks for use in your own projects and never have to worry about paying royalties for the music again. We have a lot of music currently available and even more on the way. Every track will include the fill CD quality track with up to 5 loops for use on sites, DVD menus, presentations.. The list goes on and on. Plus after you pay for a track you can choose to download it immediately or have a CD sent to you with the track and loops on it. So take a look at what we have to offer! Visit TheStrangerThings.com now!

Music Production Service Now Available!

Of course we're offering our new FearCast Packages for 2007 but we're also excited to announce some new services as well! The biggest one is Music production! Have you ever wanted to have your own theme for your business, haunt, film, or attraction? Now Rogues Hollow can fulfill that need with award winning custom compositions by our staff music maestro Nery Bauer! Visit RoguesHollow.com for more details or email us to get started!

Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletter. From the staff at Rogues Hollow we wish you and yours a very Happy Holiday season and a safe and fun New Year!

Web sites:
RoguesHollow.com
FearCast.com
TheStrangerThings.com

Find us On Myspace at:
Myspace.com/RoguesHollow
Myspace.com/TheStrangerThings

Big Things on the Horizon

2006-12-05T13:48:00.000-08:00

It sure seems like that quiet down time I usually get between the busy Halloween Season and the start of the Tradeshow madness is shrinking each year. Rogues Hollow is already hard at work on websites for several clients and on top of that we're gearing up to promote our New 2007 FearCast services which will include a MySpace and Viral Marketing packages.

After a year in progress we'll be launching TheStrangerThings.com officially this Friday. It's an online store that will feature royalty free music that can be used legally on web sites, film/TV, presentations, events, haunts, and much more. The reason for the delay is we really wanted to launch the site with more than a handful of music pieces. Now that we have a large collection ready for launch we're putting a final polish on the site itself and we're ready to rock and roll.

Let me just say that I think people are going to love this music! A lot of it is inspired by greats in the Horror genre, such as Goblin and John Carpenter. We've already set up a MySpace page for it where you can get a sneak peak at a couple tracks before the launch. The MySpace page is a little sparse now but just you wait! Check it out at Myspace.com/TheStrangerThings

By Friday of This week you should be seeing some cool stuff here that will blow you away!

Website Updates

2006-11-14T11:47:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed I've updated the website to a cleaner look, at least in my opinion. I hope information is easier to find. The Portfolio section has been greatly improved with thumbnail samples and reorganization. Overall I feel its an improvement but you be the judge. Email me at christopher@rogueshollow.com and tell me what you think.

The Next upgrade will be the fearcast section which may take a bit longer but I'm hoping to make it pretty comprehensive and packed full of valuable information. Time will tell. The new packages will be announced when the site is done so stay tuned for that.

Lastly I'm still looking for dark artists! If you have some interesting haunted house related artwork send some samples My way! If I think they are marketable for a haunt I'll add them to our licensable artwork gallery and if they sell you'll get a nice license fee! Email me at christopher@rogueshollow.com with submissions asap! It's a good chance to make some money and get your name out there.

A Visit to Thrillvania and The Nest

2006-11-05T09:23:00.000-08:00

In October I had the opportunity to visit the Nest in Phoenix AZ followed by Thrillvania in Dallas TX. It was a really fun experience to see artwork by Rogues Hollow being used in the real world at the locations. The Nest was a lot of fun to experience and I even got the chance to help out as well.

Thrillvania of course is one of the most unique and coolest haunted attractions on the planet. In fact it was just featured on the Travel Channel as one of the nation's top haunts! I was basically given full run of Verdun Manor for about 45 minutes while before they opened one night. It was probably one of the coolest and creepiest experiences I've ever had. Imagine being in a highly detailed haunted mansion where all the animatronics and props are moving but there's no sound or music effects. To say it was spooky is almost an understatement! But it was a hell of a lot of fun! I took many many pictures, some of which I've uploaded in our new gallery located HERE
There's also some photo's from Trick or Treat night at my house.

Check it all out and let us know what you think!

Portfolio updates online

2006-11-05T09:22:00.000-08:00

Our Portfolio has been updated with a list of many of the sites we've done this past season. I'm still going to redo the layout of the portfolio in the coming weeks to make it more interesting and appealing to use rather than just a long list of sites. There's also a ton of new artwork and logos we did that we'll be adding as well in the coming weeks.

Website Updates forthcoming

2006-11-03T23:28:00.000-08:00

Wow what a busy season at Rogues Hollow Productions. 2006 has proven to be our busiest year yet for haunted attractions. With all the work we've been doing we haven't had any time to update the news or the site much the last few months. However fret not for we are hard at work doing just that. Over the next 2 weeks I'll be doing some housekeeping all over the site and doing a little upgrade to RoguesHollow.com. I'll then be tackling FearCast.com, our haunted attraction design and web marketing packages site. FearCast will see a complete redesign and a much more intensive description of what Rogues Hollow can do for a haunted attraction, event or show. In addition we'll be offering some new services through FearCast.com's haunt packages that will definetly be a benefit to the attractions that take advantage of them.

Stay tuned check back often to see when the changes start taking effect. It should be a gradual process once it begins.

Banner Exchange Up and running again

2006-08-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

We recently moved our server and our banner exchange was down for a bit. Its now back up and running properly so please if you took it down you are now safe to put it back up. To join visit Rogues Hollow Network Now!

Midwest Haunters Conventions

2006-07-13T10:57:00.000-07:00

Rogues Hollow will be at MHC this weekend! If your In downtown Columbus Ohio stop by our booth at the Hyatt and say hello! We'll be promoting our web packages as well as HauntedHouse.com's New profile system! Stop by and check it all out!

More info at the MHC website

Office Closed the Week of July 4th

2006-06-30T14:21:00.000-07:00

The Rogues Hollow Offices will be closed from July 1 through July 9th for the 4th of July holiday. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you have an urgent matter please call our office for instructions on reaching us. Any email sent to our office will not be replied to until after July 9th. Thanks for your understanding and have a safe and fun Independence day and Canada Day to all our friends, clients and viewers!

Rue Morgue Marketplace at HauntedHouse.com

2006-06-14T00:04:00.000-07:00

HauntedHouse.com and Rue Morgue Magazine Join Forces

Of course as I'm sure most of you already know Rogues Hollow is the new webmaster / designer of HauntedHouse.com. The Redesign has been completed and we're currently getting geared up for the Halloween Haunting Season. Our Biggest annoucnement as of late is our new marketplace partnership with Rue Morgue Magazine! Our Official Press release is below!

Introducing the Rue Morgue Markeplace at HauntedHouse.com! The essential resource where retailers can promote and consumers can find anything and everything to do with horror and Halloween!

HauntedHouse.com has been the leader in Horror and Haunted Attraction related news, information, links and more with more than 2 Million Unique visitors a year and growing. Together with Rue Morgue Magazine, HauntedHouse.com will be bringing more traffic and attention to your door than ever before.

What do you get?
Merchants will receive placement in the category of their choosing. Each listing will consist of a large graphic to promote your business, a block of text describing your products or services and a link to your website.

Categories Include: Custom Props & Products, Custom Masks, Jewelry, Conventions, Artists/Web Designers, Film Distributors, Photography, Special Effects, Music, Education/Schools, T-Shirts & Apparel, Collectibles & Toys, Celebrities / Personalities, Manufacturing (DVD & CD's)

The Rue Morgue Marketplace will be promoted through HauntedHouse.com and Rue-Morgue.com year round with a direct link on the front page of both sites. The Marketplace will also receive frequent promotion in Rue Morgue Magazine! Now you can maximize the power of Rue Morgue Magazine and HauntedHouse.com to grow your business!

HauntedHouse.com's current free listing marketplace will be phased out by September 1st 2006 making the Rue Morgue Marketplace the only Official shopping marketplace on HauntedHouse.com and Rue-Morgue.com. Don't miss out on your opportunity to be in the ultimate Horror and Halloween Marketplace on the net!

Take advantage of our special introductory offer right away. Have your listing posted for a one year period (regular price $799) and pay for only six months ($499) for a savings of $300! Act now. Offer available only until July 1 2006.

Interested in Joining the Rue Morgue Marketplace as a vendor? Contact me at Christopher@hauntedhouse.com or call 614.408.3137 and get listed today!

Haunted House.com Updates and News

2006-04-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

Myself and the rest of the team have been busting our butts at HauntedHouse.com over the last month or so. Today we've added HauntedHouseRadio.com to our site which features links to the best Horror and Industry Radio on the net. This includes Rotting Flesh Radio and Rue Morgue Radio. Both I highly recommend and hope you'll visit every friday to download the latest episdodes.

We've also updated the front page of the site. We're doing our best to get more information on the front page so you can hopefully find what your looking for. Today is the first step in the right direction. We've also added a Flash based map of the US for our directory that will more than likely go through a couple more visual changes yet. Finally the directory is almost completly converted over to our new look and we're beginning the task of cleaning up the directory and getting all the featured banners listed.

Next week we hope to be making another big announcement regarding the site so stay tuned!

In other news we've started a Myspace.com page for HauntedHouse.com Check it out at http://www.myspace.com/hauntedhousecom and be our fiend!

Until Next time...