News

Earlier, we posted a review of the action comedy Dust Up, a neo-western with shades of Quentin Tarantino, Sergio Leone, and Grindhouse films. The film was written and directed by Ward Roberts (Little Big Top), and can be found on VOD and PPV, and has been out since October and November. What follows is FM’s interview with Ward: our discussion about his influences, his hilarious cast, the case of the missing miniature pony, and the tenacity it takes to be an independent filmmaker.

Read our rave review here and be sure to check it out on VOD.

FM: I always ask this because I’m always curious. What kinds of films, or TV, or books did you grow up on? What inspired you to become a filmmaker?

Ward Roberts: You know, I would say, watching Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman, those are my very earliest cinematic influences.

In the latest installment of our Indie Spotlight, we have the third episode of Ghost Trek, news of indie horror acquisitions, a free online horror movie festival, and more:

Ghost Trek Episode 3: Ghost Trek follows the Paranormal Underworld Detective Society (Puds) as they investigate haunts across the U.S. and abroad between tanning beds, babes, body-building, and bong hits — all the while risking life and limb capturing the undead and unexplained on video.

The team is lead by Dr. Zeke Wallace (Michael Melendez), a good-looking ex-chiropractor turned paranormal investigator, his ex-girlfriend and show’s producer, Shawna Leibowitz (Gia Allemand), Scary Carrie Carmichael (Christy Johnson), the “Living-Dead Roller-Girl” case manager, Barry ‘The Bomb’ Burkowski and Joey ‘Mayhem’ Moscone affectionately called The Goon Squad (Colt Cabana and Disco Inferno), The fashion-conscious psychic Guy Swisher (Brett Gentile), the team’s tech specialists and devoted stoners are Robbie (Michael Bortone) and Ray-Ray (Jonny...

With the "frightful" season in full swing, Gravitas Ventures has announced its acquisitions for October and November as part of the company's Gravitas Horror division's ongoing horror release schedule.

From the Press Release:

Gravitas Horror programs 10 hours worth of horror content each month and has released over 250 horror titles in the past two years. A film released within the Gravitas Horror offering is guaranteed to reach 100 million VOD homes with cable, satellite, telco, and online operators iTunes, Vudu, Amazon, and Sony Playstation, among others.

Gravitas President Michael Murphy, whose company was named to Inc. Magazine’s 500 fastest growing private company list two years in a row, believes there is a strong thirst for these horror titles in the VOD landscape. “We release 100 horror films a year into more than 100 million homes. Video on Demand allows the films of new directors to have a life today and, as technology evolves, an 'after-life’ as well,...

No budget, no problem. The seams show often in “Dust Up,” an unapologetically silly action comedy that feels as if it was produced entirely from the loose change found on all of Brooklyn’s collective bar tops. Complimenting the jaunty original score and songs from Spindrift and Gram Rabbit are stock soundtrack cues like a soaring eagle, crashing glass, and what sounds like the loudest punches ever recorded for a film, even when delivered by hundred-pound weaklings. Eternally lost in the desert is ex-vet Jack (Aaron Gaffey), who survived war trauma to become a “high desert handyman” with a granite pokerface and an eyepatch that others can’t help but acknowledge is “badass.” A phone call takes him to the doorstep of Ellen (a frankly adorable Amber Benson), who he hopes to assist with her plumbing issues, but also maybe a bit more? The point is moot as Jack soon encounters her husband,...

Written and Directed by Ward Roberts

Featuring Amber Benson, Aaron Gaffey, Devin Barry, Travis Betz, Jeremiah Birkett

As a dumb kid, I spent considerable time camped out in front of cable TV. The programming I begrudgingly missed for school or basic hygiene, I captured with my Vcr set to record the maximum hours allotted on a standard VHS tape.

Poorer quality, sure, but it was suitable for the six hours worth of garbage movies and random junk I recorded on a daily basis. I was, however, able to discover some pretty nifty shit during that wondrous time; films like The Zero Boys, Hunter's Blood, Neon Maniacs, Alligator, Quiet Cool, Waxwork, and Dudes remain staples of my diet to this day. Today, I'm a dumb grown-up, and at the risk of this sounding like an Abe Simpson rant, I feel sorry for kids growing up today. I really do. My growth...

We have an exclusive clip from Dust Up, arriving on VOD formats October 2. Ward Roberts directs this western action comedy about a former outlaw named Jack (Aaron Gaffey) who protects a single mother from a ruthless drug lord. Take a look at this scene where the one-eyed Jack picks up a drifter, and receives an unusual proposition.

Dust Up - Exclusive A Handy for the Handyman

A one-eyed vigilante with a dark past has vowed to change his ways, trading his machine gun for a yoga mat. But when he encounters a beautiful young mother in deep trouble with a cannibalistic drug lord and his evil goons, he soon realizes that justice must be served. Teamed up with his smooth-talking Native American hipster sidekick, our hero rides into the bad-ass brawl of the century.

Dust Up will be released October 2nd, 2012 and stars Leigh Anne Bush, Amber Benson, Victoria De Mare,...

We’re back this weekend with another edition of the Indie Spotlight. Today, we bring you the first episode of the zombie webseries The Dead Feed, along with the latest independent horror news sent our way:

When Good Holiday’s Go Bad: Rise of the Fiend: “Halloween, that magical night that compels adults to act like children, children to gorge themselves and a host of creatures and ghouls, those nasty beasties that hide under your bed, in your closet or the deepest recesses of your mind, all come out to play, scaring and frightening their human victims; at least, that’s how it was in the old days.

Welcome to Halloween Hallow, a disturbing land where all the nefarious creatures that wander the world on Halloween night come to dwell during the off season. In this land of strange and weird creatures lives Jack, the only human ever allowed to live amongst them.

Amber Benson’S “Dust Up” Going Down In 2012 From Breaking Glass Pictures

Domestic distributor Breaking Glass Pictures (5 Star Day, The Fields, Easier With Practice) bought domestic rights to the indie grindhouse comedy Dust Up. The deal was struck last week between CEO Rich Wolff and writer/director/producer Ward Roberts of Drexel Box Productions. Dust Up stars genre favorite Amber Benson (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, Drones), Ezra Buzzington (“Justified”), Jeremiah Birkett, Travis Betz, Aaron Gaffey, Devin… More...

We bring a long running series of heavy videos from Spindrift's "Classic Soundtracks Vol. 1" to a close with a light hearted "Round Up." It's the directorial debut of the band's own Sasha Vallely who had such a riot working with the wild roster of directors on previous videos for the album that she decided to shoot one of her own. Vallely, who was also an extra in Ward Robert's "Dust Up," chose him to be the main character in this slapstick bar fight filmed at Pappy & Harriet's in Pioneertown, originally created in the 40's as a living movie set.

"Ward was perfect for the role, he made everyone laugh so much it was a really fun shoot," Vallely beamed. "Using some of the cast and crew from 'Dust Up,' Shannon Hourigan as cinematographer, stuntman Al Burke and director Travis Betz made everything run really smoothly and I am very happy with the results.

In the horror musical The Dead Inside, we meet tortured young lovers Wes and Fi, and while their love for each other burns strong, artistically their hearts have been locked in a box for years. Wes is a burned out photographer paying the bills by shooting weddings, and Fi is the writer's blocked author of a series of zombie novellas called "The Dead Survive."

When Fi begins to show signs of schizophrenia, Wes does everything in his power to help her get better. Strange behaviors and breathing patterns escalate; soon he discovers that darker forces lurk inside her. Afraid and completely lost, Wes has no choice but to imprison his girlfriend until he can figure out what to do with the evil that has taken over his true love.

Dread Central recently caught up with writer/director Travis Betz on the eve of his screening at the upcoming Shriekfest Film...