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Horror Pride Month: Director Scott Philip Goergens

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Scott Philip Goergens

For Scott Philip Goergens, the road to filmmaking was long and winding with more than a few stops along the way.

The 46 year old writer and director learned to love horror as a kid, as so many of us do, thanks in part to his aunt and cousins who were all horror fans.

“Whenever we would go over to visit our cousins, we would always rent something from the local video store,” he said as we sat down for an interview for Horror Pride Month. “I was exposed to all kinds of wonderful, bizarre movies at an early age and I just ate it up. I loved it.”

By the time he was a senior in high school, he had a healthy appetite for the macabre and had begun to wonder if he could make movies himself. His parents had begun a tradition with his older brother of offering their sons a trip to anywhere they wanted to go as a graduation gift. His brother went on a cruise, but when the time came, Goergens had another idea in mind.

“I was like, ‘I don’t want to do that. Would you buy me a camcorder?’ So they got a camcorder for me and I just started playing around with it. I liked horror movies already so I started doing and learning on my own seeing what I could do.”

His initial “movies” were rough. He could only do in-camera editing and so he shot everything in sequence, piecing the stories together as he went along. His friends and family joined in helping him tell his stories and he was having the time of his life.

Goergens is also an artist and he as he began to pursue that side of his creativity more, filmmaking fell to the wayside.

He met the man who would become his husband at 19 years old and they’ve now been together 27 years. They moved around quite a lot in those early years. The filmmaker pursued his art and his husband went on to become a lawyer.

When they came to Boston, Goergens decided he needed to give film another try. He began taking classes at the Boston Film Video Foundation where he learned to shoot and edit film. He took jobs as a production assistant learning the business on set. Eventually, he went to work for a film/video company that rented and sold equipment where he eventually purchased his own and prepared to make his first feature.

Soon, 29 Needles was born.

“I had a camera with limited resources and funds, but I didn’t want to jump into the found footage pool,” he explained. “You can hide a lot of budget issues in found footage. This film was kind of a launching pad to try to make some more money for another film to follow.”

Goergens began searching for talent for the film by posting ads in local newspapers and on Craigslist and found his star, Brooke Berry, on MySpace.

The film’s more extreme elements grew out of this casting process as well as from the initial idea that began the journey.

“I kind of played with this serial killer idea,” he explained. “What turns a serial killer on and what turns someone in the bondage, domination, S&M community on and kind of tried to cross-breed that into a psychopath to seek out what’s driving them.”

The film created an electric response in audiences on the festival circuit and because of that, Goergens has been reconsidering the path forward saying he thought he would need to “reel things in” for a second film but the positive response he’s received changed his mind.

The way ahead also includes representation and casting within in the LGBTQ+ community. 29 Needles included four trans actors including Brooke who began their transition after filming ended.

“I thought, being a gay male I was just like, when I make my movies there has to be representation,” Goergens said. “Whether there be one or many characters, I want it to be there. I wanted to put more of that out there in the world for that experience and not shy away from it. It was purposeful; that was an intention of mine.”

When he’s not making films, the director continues to work as an artist and devotes plenty of time to his family which has grown to include a pair of adopted twin sons.

He also devotes plenty of time to watching movies when he can, often playing them while he is writing or painting.

“I’m a huge Cronenberg fan and I also really love Ingmar Bergman. For whatever reason, I love them both. Cries and Whispers and Dead Ringers. Whenever I’m writing or drawing or painting I put a movie on in the background. Fede Alvarez’s Evil Dead is one that I go to a lot and Annihilation that I can repeat and repeat and repeat.”

The Cronenberg influence is definitely present in the trailer for 29 Needles which you can check out below.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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