Apr 4 2012

The NEHW Appearing at Stratford ‘Showcase of Crafts’

NEHW members will be signing their books at the Stratford Spring Showcase of Crafts this Saturday.

Authors Stacey Longo, Kristi Petersen Schoonover and Rob Watts, who are NEHW members, will be selling and signing their books. The books on hand include Bram Stoker Nominated Epitaphs, the first NEHW anthology, Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole – Tales from Haunted Disney World, and Huldufólk.

The Stratford Spring Showcase of Crafts happens from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will take place at the Stratford Hotel & Conference Center, located at 225 Lordship Blvd. in Stratford, Connecticut.

Apr 3 2012

FILM ON SUSHI MASTER TO PLAY IN GLOUCESTER THIS WEEKEND

Press Release

FILM ON SUSHI MASTER TO PLAY IN GLOUCESTER THIS WEEKEND

Special screening Sunday to benefit Cape Ann’s food pantry, The Open Door

Gloucester, MA – The Cape Ann Community Cinema at 21 Main Street in Gloucester continues its monthly “Dinner And A Movie” series this Sunday, April 8 at 5:00 p.m. with a special benefit screening of the acclaimed documentary, Jiro Dreams Of Sushi.

The film tells the story of 85-year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant auspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Despite its humble appearances, it is the first restaurant of its kind to be awarded a prestigious 3-star Michelin review, and sushi lovers from around the globe make repeated pilgrimage, calling months in advance and shelling out top dollar for a coveted seat at Jiro’s sushi bar. At the heart of this story is Jiro’s relationship with his eldest son Yoshikazu, the worthy heir to Jiro’s legacy, who is unable to live up to his full potential in his loving father’s shadow.

The film is rated PG, for mild thematic elements and brief smoking. Tickets for this one-night-only event are $9.50 adults, $8.00 for students & seniors (60+) and $6.50 for Cinema Members, available at the Cinema or online at www.CapeAnnCinema.com. Sushi from Latitude 43 will be available for purchase for prices ranging from $10 to $16, and will be served during intermission at around 6:00pm.

The Cape Ann Community Cinema will donate a portion of every ticket and sushi sale to Cape Ann’s food pantry, The Open Door (www.FoodPantry.org).

Apr 2 2012

The Epitaph, Issue 18 (March 2012)

Issue #18 (March 2012)

The Epitaph

Journal of the New England Horror Writers (NEHW)

The NEHW Committee:

Tracy L. Carbone – Co-Chair
Stacey Longo – Co-Chair
Dan Keohane – Treasurer
Jason Harris – Director of Publicity/Webmaster
K. Allen Wood – Director of Publications
Scott Goudsward – Director of Events
Danny Evarts – Art Director
Tim Deal (alternate)
T.J. May (alternate)

NEHW SIGNINGS AND READINGS:

Stratford Spring Showcase of Crafts

The NEHW will have a table at the Stratford Spring Showcase of Crafts in Stratford, CT, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 7. Participation will cost $15. Contact Jason at dudley228@gmail.com if you want to participate.

Foxboro Jaycees Spring Fair

The NEHW will have two spaces at the Foxboro Jaycees Spring Fair on May 19 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Participation will cost $15. Contact Jason at dudley228@gmail.com.

NECON 32

The NEHW will have a table at NECON. Participation costs $10. Members will be responsible to man the table for a couple hours if you choose to sell books. Contact Scott Goudsward at screaming602@gmail.com.

Rhode Island Comic Con

The NEHW will be at the Rhode Island Comic Con on November 3 and 4. The cost will be $25 per member to participate. Contact Jason at dudley228@gmail.com to be at the table.

NEHW ANNOUNCEMENT

The Bram Stoker Awards happened last night, March 31, at 11 p.m. (Eastern Time). The NEHW finally found out if our first anthology, Epitaphs, was going to stay a Bram Stoker nominee or become a Bram Stoker winner. Unfortunately, it was the latter. John Skipp’s Demons: Encounters with the Devil and His Minions, Fallen Angels, and the Possessed won the award in the category, Superior Achievement in an Anthology. The NEHW congratulates John Skipp on his achievement!

NEHW WRITING/ART OPPORTUNITIES

From Hollie Snider:

Snider is the Executive Editor at Hidden Thoughts Press, which is a non-fiction press focusing on mental wellness. They currently have two open submission calls. One is for essays concerning phobias and how people live with them, or live with people who suffer from them. The other is on suicide prevention.

Submission call information can be found on our website at www.hiddenthoughtspress.com. The website is currently under construction, but the tab links do work. If potential submitters have questions, they can email Hollie at holliesnider@hiddenthoughtspress.com. The direct link to the phobia call is

http://hiddenthoughtspress.com/submissions-2/open-calls/real-people-real-phobias/ and the direct link to the suicide prevention call is

http://hiddenthoughtspress.com/submissions-2/open-calls/suicide-prevention-anthology/.

From Charles Day:

Now’s your chance to join our EJP editors David Hayes & Henry Snider as they carefully select the stories that will either keep you from ever stepping foot in an amusement park again, or have you bouncing over those waiting in line to catch all the terrifying fun! Welcome to my newest happy place, welcome to…Carnival of the Damned http://eviljesterpress.com/main/2012/03/16/evil-jester-press-an-open-call-for-carnival-of-the-damned/ Everything you could imagine from traveling entertainment – food, games of chance, sideshows, dancing girls, funhouses, fortune tellers, rides…and the seeds for nightmarish realities made flesh. Give us tales of monstrosities underneath boardwalks, circuses in the middle of nowhere, whatever your mind can conjure!

From Robert Heske:

Dear Comic Book Creators,

Studio 407, the publisher of my new book, The Night Projectionist, is running a very cool art contest, providing creator exposure and giving away some cool stuff on Facebook. Check out the press release, http://studio-407.blogspot.com/2012/03/win-original-art-from-night.html. Please feel free to share the link with your peers. And if you get a chance, please LIKE the FB page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Night-Projectionist/303149166415369.

NEHW MEMBER NEWS:

From Deb Eskie:

Eskie’s first collaborative film project, Mother’s Sin, written by her and Chris Lawn, is based on her short story of the same name. It will premiere on YouTube on April 13. Check out the trailer at www.youtube.com/like2productions.

From David L. Tamarin:

Tamarin has been made Associate Producer for the international horror anthology, Profane Exhibit. The film creators are striving to be the most intense and horrifying film of 2012. More information can be found at their Facebook page, www.facebook.com/theProfaneExhibit.

Recently, he attended Uwe Boll’s shoot for the film, a nasty thriller called Basement with Clint Howard and Tara Cardinal.

From Robert Heske:

Heske announces the release of his new graphic novel, The Night Projectionist, a vampire graphic novel, which will be out in comic shops and bookstores in May.

Here’s a quick premise: “On the eve of Halloween a small group of moviegoers attend the final showing in an old movie theater, not knowing it could be the last thing they ever see! All hell breaks loose when the theater is surrounded by a coven of vampires, and the only person who knows why is the mysterious night projectionist. But is he going to help these people or get them killed? Soon a bloody war rages through the theater with the body count multiplying by the minute. Don’t miss this no-holds-barred tale of bloody revenge that puts the bite back into vampire stories!”

The graphic novel is priced at $12.99 and can be pre-ordered at your local comic shop today!

Publisher Studio 407 has made it simple to pre-order the book. Simply click here, http://investcomics.com/news/studio-407-makes-it-easier-than-ever-to-pre-order-comics. To follow the Studio 407 blog covering all their comic book happenings, visit http://www.studio-407.blogspot.com/.

From Charles Day:

The Fierce and Unforgiving Muse: Twenty-six Tales from the Terrifying Mind of Gregory L. Norris by Gregory L. Norris, recently published by Evil Jester Press, includes short stories, novelettes, and novellas.

The Kindle e-book and paperback edition of Attic Toys, edited by Jeremy C. Shipp, and Evil Jester Digest Volume One is now available.

From Roxanne Dent:

Dent’s story, “Magnus the Magnificent,” is appearing in the anthology, The Call of Lovecraft by Evil Jester Press, which will be released in July, the same month NECON happens.

Two of her short stories, “The Banchee of Muddy River,” and a Young Adult one, “Forbidden Love,” are now up on Kindle.

From Steven Withrow:

Withrow’s poem, “The Mad Monologue of Doctor Chronology,” will appear in the September 2012 issue of Dreams & Nightmares: A Magazine of Fantastic Poetry, edited by David C. Kopaska-Merkel (http://dreamsandnightmaresmagazine.com/index.html).

From Thomas D’Agostino:

D’Agostino and his wife, Arlene, will be appearing at the Ocean State Paranormal Conference on Saturday, April 14 at the St. Ann’s Arts and Cultural Center, 84 Cumberland St., Woonsocket, RI from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. and then Saturday, April 21 at the Southcoast Paranormal and Psychic Faire, at 110 Middle St. Fairhaven, MA from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. followed by a ghost investigation of the Bridgewater Triangle hosted by Tom, Arlene and John Brightman.

On Tuesday, April 24, they will be at The Windham Restaurant in Windham, New Hampshire for the monthly Dining With The Dead series hosted by the New England Ghost Project.

Tickets for all these events are available online or at the door. Here are the links,

www.newenglandghostproject.com and www.scparanormalfaire.com.

From Alex Kimmell:

Kimmell’s new novel, The Key To Everything, is being released by Booktrope Publishing in the next couple of months.

From Kerry A. Morgan:

Morgan works in a school district that is weeding out its library. Some time ago in the New England area, someone requested books for a library that had been hit by a storm at another school. If you know who was asking for donations for the library, please contact Kerry at km@kerryamorgan.com to discuss a donation from her school. Thank you.

From Karen Dent:

Dent’s story, “A Case to Die For,” will be appearing in the anthology, Damnation & Dames. It will be launched at Swancon 37 in Australia on Easter. The anthology will be available from Ticonderoga’s online shop at www.indiebooksonline.com and at internet bookstores such as www.bookdepository.com and www.amazon.com. It will also be available in trade paperback and as an e-book in the Kindle format.

Her story, “Endless Hunger,” will appear in the Evil Jester Press anthology, The Call of Lovecraft. It will be coming out in July.

From Dale Phillips:

Phillips’ collection of short stories, Halls of Horror, is available in print: http://www.amazon.com/Halls-Horror-Ten-Story-Collection/dp/1470162318/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_3

And his latest collection, Strange Tales, is out in print:

http://www.amazon.com/Strange-Tales-Five-Story-Collection/dp/1470179105/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_6. And as an e-book: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/138384.

From K. A. Laity:

Laity will be appearing at Alt.Fiction in Leicester

(www.altfiction.co.uk), talking with Graham Joyce about The Extremely Dangerous Fairy Folk, appearing on a panel about adaptations and reading some fiction.

Earlier in March, she was a featured writer at Phoenix-Con in Dublin, appearing on panels about myth and folklore, social media and the necessity of editors.

From Scott Goudsward:

Goudsward has just received a contract for the first of two anthologies, to be co-edited by him and Rachel Kenely. Both books are from Chaosium and will be due out in the second quarter of 2013. The first anthology is tentatively called Once Upon an Apocolypse: Volume 1 – Zombies. More news will follow.

From Kristi Petersen Schoonover:

Schoonover kicked off 2012 by appearing on Paranormal, Eh? Radio’s One Year Anniversary Special. You can hear this and any of her other radio interviews by visiting the dedicated page on her website: http://kristipetersenschoonover.com/radio-interviews/

Her radio show, Scary Scribes, premiered on Canada’s Paranormal, Eh? Radio Network and has been getting such real-time interest that the network is adding a call-in line so listeners can interact with guests. January featured NEHW Co-Chair Stacey Longo and a reading of her story “People Person,” February featured John Palisano and the first chapter of his new book, Nerves, published by Bad Moon Books and March featured NEHW member John Grover and his stories “3:15” and “The Tie That Binds.” If you missed them, past episodes are available on iTunes or right from the Scary Scribes website, http://scaryscribes.com/past-episodes/. Future guests will include NEHW members T.J. May, Daniel Pearlman, Kevin Lucia and Rob Watts.

She spent two glorious weeks up at the Norman Mailer Writers Colony in Provincetown, Mass., where she got lots of work done, including drafts for four more short stories.

Schoonover also joined fellow NEHW members T.J. May and Trisha Wooldridge for a successful writers’ workshop at Annie’s Book Stop in Worcester, MA.

Her poem “Today” was accepted by and published in Vagabondage Press’ anthology, Love Notes, and is available in both print and e-book. It’s sold at all major online book retailers, including Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo, as well as on the Vagabondage Press website at www.vagabondagepress.com. To purchase Love Notes in print, http://bit.ly/LoveNotesPrint or Kindle:

http://bit.ly/LoveNotesKindle

Her short story, “Growlers,” which was commissioned by Literary Mayhem, was published in February. You can read it here: http://literarymayhem.com/wordpress/kristi-petersen-schoonover-growlers/

A reprint of her short story, “Whether Girl,” was published in May-December Publications’ Wake the Witch anthology for the benefit of the Red Cross. To purchase in Print: http://bit.ly/WakeWitchPrint. To purchase for Kindle: http://bit.ly/WakeWitchKindle.

Her short story, “A Bone to Pick” took Second Place in Toasted Cheese’s Dead of Winter 2011 Contest and was published by the magazine on March 1. To read the story and check out the other winners, visit here: http://tclj.toastedcheese.com/2012/12-1/schoonover.htm.

Most recently, she was asked to write a short story, “The Thing Inside,” for the upcoming anthology, Unnatural Tales of the Jackalope.

Lastly, she and her fiancée, Nathan (Schoonover, also a NEHW member) have been planning their wedding. They would love it if any NEHW member would send them a rock as a get-well wish. The rocks will be put on display and the contributor’s names will be listed on their wedding website and in their programs. Details on that are here: http://journeytothecenteroftheearthwedding.com/2012/02/02/friends-fans-please-send-us-a-rock-for-our-wedding-day/

From J.P. Freeman:

Issue 2 of Things Better Left Unsaid will be available April 1 via print on demand at www.indyplanet.com. Issue 1 is still available.

From Miranda Doerfler:

Doerfler participated in a climate change anthology, Hot Mess, which speculates on the human effects of a changing environment. The cover was designed by Sarah Hartley, and the interior illustrations were done by Hannah Werdmuller.

A portion of proceeds will be donated by the individual authors to their preferred climate-change associated charities. To purchase on Amazon, chick here:

http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Mess-speculative-fiction-ebook/dp/B007MFDU3K

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS:

Alex Kimmell (RI)
Kim Krodel (CT)
Errick Nunnally (MA)

– Jason Harris, Editor, the Epitaph: Journal of NEHW
– Stacey Longo, Assistant Editor, the Epitaph: Journal of NEHW

Apr 1 2012

Pictures from the Last Two NEHW Events

The NEHW Table at the Heritage Craft Fair at the Keefe Technical School in Framingham, MA. Photo by Jason Harris

The other NEHW table at the Framingham event. Photo by Jason Harris

From left to right: (front row) Kristi Petersen Schoonover and Stacey Longo, (back row) Rob Watts, Jason Harris, and David Price. Photo by Kayleigh Price.

Author David Price signing his first autograph at the Keefe Technical School in Framingham. Photo by Pauline Price.

Author Morven Westfield holding her books at the Heritage Craft Fair. Photo by Pauline Price.

Author K. Allen Wood in Framingham. Photo by Pauline Price.

Author K. Allen Wood autographs a story for a fan as Sarah Gomes looks on in Framingham. Photo by Pauline Price.

Our space at the Hanover Craft Fair. Photo by Jason Harris.

A close-up view of the Hanover NEHW table. Photo by Jason Harris.

Mar 29 2012

Spring Craft Fair to Benefit Food Shelf

The NEHW will be at the Spring Craft Fair this Saturday in Hanover, Massachusetts.

NEHW members Stacey Longo, David Price, Kristi Petersen Schoonover, and Rob Watts will be at the event selling and signing their books.

Fair organizers will be raffling off items donated from local businesses to help raise money for the Hanover Food Pantry. There will also be a silent auction for a three-month membership to the YMCA.

The fair runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is at Riley Hall located at 17 Silver Street in Hanover.

Mar 28 2012

CASTRATION, VENEREAL DISEASE, and ‘THE TRANSSEXUALS’

Column

CASTRATION, VENEREAL DISEASE, and ‘THE TRANSSEXUALS’- Working on PROFANE EXHIBIT

By David L Tamarin

I’ve been busy with film work for the past few months, and for once it has not been as an actor or writer. I am the General Counsel for the film Profane Exhibit, and also the Associate Producer. The film is an international anthology featuring 11 films from notorious directors like Uwe Boll, Andrey Iskanov, Ryan Nicholson, Coffin Joe, Michael Todd Schneider, Richard Stanley, and more.

I was lucky enough to attend two of the film shoots, and can definitely say they were among the most memorable experiences of my life. I got an extra role in the short film, Manna, from director Michael Todd Schendier, a.k.a. Mikey Maggot, who directed and acted in arguably the most disturbing film ever made, August Underground’s Mordum. I was nervous about meeting him. If you’ve seen Mordum, you will understand why, as his psychotic performance and his vile acts of necrophilia and torture really push the envelope in terms of what is acceptable even in an extreme pseudo-snuff movie. I have no problem acknowledging the film disturbed me and affected me in a profound way. I would have been better off not watching it at all. But I was happy to meet a man whom I considered to be one of the most powerful directors in the history of film, and to see him at work. So I flew from Boston to Pittsburg for the Manna shoot.

I believe the gruesome castration will be the most memorable moment of Manna. I just found out some great news from my friend, who did the gory make up effects – she has been accepted into the next season of that reality show where they do horror makeup! She deserves to be on that show – the fake cock and balls she made were so realistic that I was shivering.

She worked on creating a set of testicles that were as real looking as possible, and then a penis to go with it. There were fake testicles all over the place and they looked pretty real. There is a slight possibility she was involved in black market penis because of the large collection of severed male genitalia laying around. But I doubt that. I’m not an expert in makeup effects so I am not sure what material she used, but the balls had a squishy texture that was oddly realistic and it really pained me to see the simulated castration. It was done well, and it hurt to watch! Had I been considering a sex change I believe I would have changed my mind.

Uwe Boll and David L. Tamarin

I can’t tell you all the behind-the-scenes details so I’ll fast forward about a month. Next up is the Los Angeles shoot, Basement, to be directed by Uwe Boll, who is responsible for some of my favorite films ever made about the nature of violence and its place in society – Rampage, Stoic, and Attack on Darfur in particular are three incredibly powerful examinations of violence that cannot be easily forgotten or ignored. Boll is on board with Profane Exhibit as director of a particularly disturbing sequence called Basement about a man who lives a normal family life, except for the sexually abused daughter locked up in one room in the basement she has not left in years. It is a story of hypocrisy, and a tale of people with public personalities that don’t match the horribly deviant behaviors that they commit behind closed doors. Clint Howard plays the father and Tara Cardinal plays the tragic figure of his daughter in this story that unfortunately is completely based on fact.

In contrast to the serious subject matter was our shooting location, which was a cheesy commercial porn set.

I had been told what time to be at the studio, but not when, so I showed up early to the Canoga Park address. I saw a model-type and began asking her questions about the shoot. Did she know what time it was supposed to start, when the others would be here, etc? She answered my questions and responded with one of her own.

“So, are you one of the transsexuals?” she asked me in a sweet but innocent voice. I may not be very big, but at least I’ve got something, and I double checked my crotch before telling her that “No, I was not one of the transsexuals.”

I asked her, “are you here for the Uwe Boll shoot? He’s a German guy who looks like a boxer?” She answered in the negative, and someone from inside one of the studios came out at the moment to help us. I informed the kind grandmotherly woman who ran the sets that we were both there for different shoots, and she asked me if I was one of the transvestites before I had time to tell her I was not there for a porno – at least – as far as I knew, it wasn’t a porno. She told me which studios I needed to be at and what time to come back. I wished the nice ladies good luck and then walked back to my motel room, passing six Indian massage parlors on the way.

I showed up an hour later and a very nice make up effects girl gave me a tour. The building had lots of tiny rooms, mostly secluded, and most with little more than a bed. Then she showed me the bathroom. This was a cheap studio, but the bathroom was nice enough to a big heart-shaped hot-tub in it. At this point it became incredibly obvious this was a porn set. The hot-tub had a sinister feature – it locked you inside of it. A couple of people walked into it to give it a closer look and found themselves unable to escape. It took their screams to alert us to the problem so that we could free them. Throughout the day, we would find ourselves short one actress or one crew person, then hear screaming and find them locked in the bath room.

What the hell kind of a porn set was this? Did they do rape and snuff here and make it impossible for the girls to escape? More likely it was just in disrepair.

The porn couch

In the room we ate in during the break I saw something that absolutely confirmed that I was shooting in a porn house. The furniture consisted of these awful bright pink couches. As I sat on the couch, I could almost feel all the sexually transmitted diseases walking all around, sinking though my clothes and into my skin. If the number one way to catch AIDS was through casual sex I was convinced the number two way was to simply be in the same room as this couch.

For a moment I wondered what one of those CSI devices that indicate the presence of semen, blood, and other bodily fluids would find on that pink couch.

Next time you’re watching a porno and you see some people getting it on, on top of a bright pink couch you’ll be able to say you know someone who caught a disease from that very same couch.

Of course, this is nothing compared to the day I did a film shoot at the K2U strip club in Woonsocket, Rhode Island only to learn the day after the shoot that a notorious local serial killer used that exact same bar to pick out the victims he would take to their death. All in all, an asbestos filled shooting location in a condemned Buffalo building was definitely the worst.

But I work on horror films, and ones that tend to be very twisted horror films, so exposure to AIDS and asbestos is better than no exposure at all.

Mar 27 2012

Job Fair this Friday in Mansfield

PRESS RELEASE

FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 10:30 A.M. – 12:30 P.M.

Courtney to speak at Mansfield Job Fair, provide information on federal resources and veterans hiring tax credits

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Joe Courtney on Friday, March 30, from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. will participate in the Mansfield Job Fair, which he coordinated with the Eastern Workforce Investment Board (EWIB), CT Works, the Chronicle Newspaper, Quinebaug Valley Community College, the Northeastern Chamber of Commerce and the Windham Chamber of Commerce. Rep. Courtney’s office will have a booth at the fair. In addition to providing job seekers and businesses with information veterans hiring tax credits and federal resources, staffers from Congressman Courtney’s office will be on hand to help constituents with casework requests.

“In every sense, a job is the best social program of all. A job creates self-sufficiency and restores confidence people have in themselves, their family and their community,” said Congressman Courtney. “Growing jobs – whether by opening new markets and boosting exports or by providing incentives to hire veterans – is critical to our continued economic recovery. We have more work to do to restore the American Dream, but this event will be a good boost toward achieving that goal.”

The job fair will be held at the East Brook Mall, located at 95 Storrs Road, Mansfield, CT.

Mar 24 2012

Author’s Stories Available on Amazon and Smashwords

Author and NEHW member John Grover’s sixth short story collection, Creatures and Crypts is available on Amazon or Smashwords as an e-book. It contains twenty short stories. The author states his collection “contains something for everyone from shambling zombies to vengeful ghosts, the Grim Reaper and monsters that only inhabit the author’s imagination.” It also includes the second place winner of the New Bedlam short story contest, “Unknowable.”

Grover also has a free story, “The Disembodied,” on Amazon. It’s part of Creatures and Crypts. To purchase this free story, click here.

Revenants, a digital chapbook co-written by Grover and R. Thomas Riley, is a sample of their collaborative stories all about the undead in their many forms. It contains a sneak peek of their upcoming novel, If God Doesn’t Show, coming this year by Permuted Press. Check out the chapbook here.

For more information about Grover, check out his website.

Mar 23 2012

The Mocking Dead

This article originally appeared in the Journal Inquirer, a newspaper out of Manchester, Connecticut.

Local filmmaker to debut “Atomic Zombie” movie in Stafford

By Heather J. Linder

Torj (left), played by Ed Gasiorek, meets with his master, the evil scientist Dr. Harry Housen , played by Andrew Wrobel, in front of the atomic pile used to conduct Housen's experiements in the B-movie spoof Attack of the Atomic Zombies.

Zombies are taking over the Old Town Hall Saturday as local composer-turned-filmmaker Tony Diana hosts the debut of his first movie, Attack of the Atomic Zombies.

Diana, along with his two friends, created Butterfleye Films to pursue his passion for movie making. The trio developed the zombie movie as a spoof of black-and-white B-movies of the 1950s, he said.

The premiere starts at 6 p.m. at the Old Town Hall, located on Route 19 near Hydeville Road, and costs $5 to get in.

The cast and crew will be present to answer questions and sign autographs. DVD copies of the movie will be on sale for $10.

Attack of the Atomic Zombies was filmed exclusively in Stafford and features an almost entirely local cast of actors, including Diana’s wife and daughter.

The film’s plot centers around an evil scientist named Dr. Harry Housen who comes to town to conduct experiments and then dumps atomic waste into the Stafford water supply. When residents drink the water, they are transformed into atomic zombies.

Diana’s zombie’s don’t attack or bite, though. They loiter more than anything, he said, which was designed as a parody on small town life.

The film is a “love letter to the B-movie genre,” Diana said. “The acting is supposed to be stiff and wooden to make it work. It comes across really hilarious.”

The production company had a limited budget and all-volunteer talent, so Diana, who freelances full-time as a composer and digital editor, used his computer editing skills to enhance the film and make its ‘50s setting look more realistic.

In one scene, he superimposed a 1950s Chevrolet Bel Air in a parking lot, and in others he digitally removed cars or objects that looked too modern.

“The computer opens up a whole bunch of possibilities,” he said.

The movie’s dialogue is also unique, Diana said, because none of the lines were scripted. Rather, Diana wrote a synopsis of all 23 scenes and let the actors improvise.

“They knew what they had to do in the scene but not what to say,” he said.

Many of the actors were familiar with improvisation, but some were new to the craft.

When the cast viewed the film for the first time in November, they were relieved at how well the movie turned out and how hilarious the dialogue was, he said.

“The film has a good heart,” he said, “and it’s a lot of fun. People had a passion for making it.”

All three members of Butterfleye Films worked on the production. Diana wrote the film’s music and synopsis and did visual effects. Brian Thone made all of the props, including Dr. Housen’s nuclear reactor, and did zombie makeup. Steve Bednar helped create the film’s concept and plays Sheriff Ed Wood, the story’s hero, on screen.

The trio is already busy making their second film, which Diana said will be more dramatic and ambitious than the comical zombie spoof.

He hopes to someday make movies full-time and to work with a consistent group of friends and actors to pursue his “intense passion” for filmmaking.

“My hope as we go forward with this venture is to keep using the same people to develop a troupe,” he said. “People will get used to the actors in it and see them play different roles in different movies.”

The movie’s runtime is 71 minutes, including trailers. It was filmed in early September over three weekends, and Diana spent five weeks editing and adding special effects.

After the special Stafford showing Saturday, Attack of the Atomic Zombies will make an appearance at Boston Comic Con in April.

For upcoming event information, visit the film’s website, http://aotaz.necromare.net.

Mar 19 2012

The NEHW will be at the 39th Heritage Craft Fair this Saturday (updated 3/21)

The NEHW will be at the 39th Heritage Craft Fair this Saturday.

There will be a number of members selling and signing their books. Come and meet Stacey Longo, David Price, Rob Watts, Morven Westfield, and K. Allen Wood.

The fair is held at the Keefe Technical School from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It’s sponsored by the Heritage Chorale. According to the fair’s website, the fair “provides income to support our musical mission, from booth rental fees, sale of food and  beverages, and modest admission fees. This popular fair features more than 100 crafters selling their own creations including glassware, clothing, toys, jewelry, woodworking, leather goods, quilts, metalwork, paintings, and many other arts and crafts.”

According to the fair’s flyer, there will also be food at the event . The price of admission is $3 and $2.50 for seniors.

The fair’s location is 750 Winter St. in Framingham, Massachusetts.