Denise Best Actress Nominee in Chicago!

Fuckin' A. Denise gets nominated for a Best Actress award at the Chicago Horror Film Festival! We are all so proud of her. Not bad for her first time out. Not bad at all. To see all the nominees go to http://chicagohorrorfest.com/

In other news, just back from FangoNY, I sat down with William who had a whole new batch of music. We hired him for his rich musical talents, but we were taking a bit of a chance with him as this was his first feature score. Some of the early music showed a lot of promise, but till now we were keeping our fingers crossed. Today he delivered. Big time.

He has created the beginnings of an amazing eclectic and evocative score. I can't wait to hear what he comes up with next.

Gregg

More Fango pics

The unholy trio does an interview for Showtime.

Denise and her new friend.

Denise takes a snack break!

Fango NY - Day 2

The rest of the show.... Mostly about networking and press. We were interviewed by the local news (Channel 9 UPN) and a couple of websites (Fangoria.com and DVDinMyPants.com) but the big deal was the interview we did for Showtime. They were doing a story on the show and also to promote the new Showtime series "Masters of Horror." What kind of press will we get out of all this? Who knows. I'll keep you posted as things develop.

Meanwhile, Denise fell in love with an ugly-ass stuffed cat that she wouldn't let go of and decided to hold him? her? it? during the Showtime interview. Hopefully they cropped Ugly Kitty out of frame.

Across the way from us was the Shockorama booth manned by Justin, Paige and Trinity. The Shockorama crew does an amazing job of getting their campy, erotic horror movies into all the big stores. We could learn a lot from these guys.

Also at a booth nearby was a young filmmaker named Zeb promoting a new series called "Dead" that he's producing for the new Horror Channel (not to be confused with the competing Fangoria TV horror channel). "Dead" is a TV series about zombies that from the trailer looks to be very cool. Other films that we saw promoted there that looked exciting were the feature "Nightmare" and the short "Gotham Cafe."

Fango pics

Denise and Cassandra make a John Landis sandwich!

Gregg finally gets some payback for all the grief
Denise gave him on the set.

Robert's father uses the power of the crucifix
to ward off his evil daughter-in-law!

Fango NY - Day 1

The first day of the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors. Things went reasonably smooth. All the one-sheets, postcards, and banners came in from the printers in time and they all turned out pretty fucking slick. But with all the shit going down, I'd forgotten to make a new DVD of the trailer. The single most important thing and I'd blown it. I FedExed Mia the keys to my place, she made a copy of the movie, rushed it over to have a DVD made, then FedExed it, along with my keys, to New Jersey.

New Jersey. That's another story. It's impossible to drive anywhere without getting lost. But don't get me started.

Attendance was low, and many of the vendors were unhappy -- they had no one to sell their merchandise to -- but we were there to create awareness of the movie and to promote Denise as a new figure on the horror movie scene. So we networked and talked to the press (UPN, Showtime, Fangoria) and Denise and Cassandra smiled a lot, posed for pictures with the fans and signed lots of autographs. For us, we thought it went quite well.

John Landis (American Werewolf in London) came by. He almost walked right past the booth but I stopped him, sent him into a U-turn back to our booth so he could watch the trailer and pose for some pics. He seemed to like both the trailer and the ladies. How could he not?

They charmed everyone they met. Though some of the men were a bit intimidated, ultimately their curiosity would get the best of them and they'd come over. I think we gathered some new fans.

Who else did we meet? Russ Streiner and John Russo (Night of the Living Dead) both very cool cats, John Gulager (Feast, Project Greenlight) who was a very sweet guy, as was his dad Clu Gulager (Return of the Living Dead) and Michael Rooker (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer) who was pretty damn cool as well. Not to mention porn star and record holder of the world's biggest gang bang, Jasmin St. Claire. Now that's hard to beat.

Fangoria Weekend of Horrors 9/24-9/25

Sept 24-25. Fangoria Weekend of Horrors. Secaucus, NJ. Fangoria's show is a treat for all horror fans! Meet director G Simpson, producer Robert Masino and stars Denise Masino and Cassandra Floyd who will be posing for free photos so bring your camera!
For more info go to http://www.creationent.com/cal/fangony.htm

Chicago Horror Fest welcomes B+K!

We're in Allentown, PA... Where most of the movie was shot. Shooting some publicity stills (including the one seen here) as well as shooting a few final pickups for the movie. We shot three new scenes. Now that's it. I swear. We've been back to this hotel three times now and I think that's enough reshooting. Even Woody Allen doesn't reshoot this much.

But the big news is that we just got word we've been accepted into the 2005 Chicago Horror Film Festival, Oct 28-Nov 3. For more information please go to
http://chicagohorrorfest.com/

"Blood + Kisses" wins Best Picture in Vegas!

After the third and final screening of the movie today, we hung out, watched a number of films, ate steak and eggs for breakfast, and gambled. Boz, on a lucky streak after all his raffle winnings, came away from the slots with a whopping $2.50 in winnings.

In the afternoon, we went to the awards presentation, nervous and excited. This was, after all, the first public screening of the movie and, given the fact that it's pretty damn provocative, we knew it wasn't for all tastes. In fact, we wouldn't have it any other way.

So as they were giving away awards, Boz and I sat and watched other films walking away with all the prizes. Shit. How could we be shut out? We knew we had the coolest movie. Where else are you going to see such an amazing group of female bodies starring in such a funky, ballsy, guilty pleasure of a movie. Then they got to the final award, the Best Feature Film, and they called out "Blood and Kisses" and... what a rush... almost a year's worth of work and an entire week of non-stop work to prepare for this festival (Mia and I working day and night on the sound; Denise and Barbara putting the one-sheet together) and then this. The payoff. The first of many for all of us.

Next stop. Fangoria.

G

Vampires, Jagermeister and Lap Dances

A big thanks to all of you who came out and supported the movie. We've screened the film twice, and due to popular demand, are screening one more time Sunday at noon (that's in about one hour!)

There was a raffle and Boz bought a slew of tickets and wound up winning four prizes including a $250 pair of sunglasses and believe it or not, a vampire killing kit - complete with stake, mallet, garlic, etc. We'll probably buy a few more tickets today, as I have my eye on a RoboRaptor dinosaur robot that I'd like to give my nephew.

The screenings were a lot of fun and it was really the first time that I sat back and watched the movie like it was meant to be seen. We still have some work to do to finish it, but I have to say that for the most part the film works. It's a fucking miracle.

But it wouldn't be Vegas without a trip to a strip club. Conveniently there was one a block away from the Plaza and right now I'm basking in the after effects of shots of Jagermeister (too many) and lap dances (not enough) No pictures from the strip club although when a stripper picked a fight with me for having a camera (I wasn't using it) our waitress had the stripper reprimanded and sent home. Then our waitress - who was a real sweetheart - bought us a round of drinks. Crazy.

Gotta run. Screening is now less than an hour away. More later.

G

Vegas Bound!

Fuckin' A.

We've been working 24/7 to get this movie finished in time for the preview screening in Vegas. The color and audio will still need to be tweaked after this weekend, and not all of the music is complete yet, but it looks pretty damn good...

It's now 3:20AM. Just enough time to pack and catch a couple hours sleep before Boz (who plays the Detective) and I get on the road to beat the weekend traffic to Vegas.

More from the Vegas...

G

One-Sheet

Denise worked her ass off (with help from Barbara and James) in creating this very cool 8x10 version of the poster, known as a "one-sheet." I think she was ready to choke me by the time I finished sharing my ideas though. Good thing for me she was on the other side of the continent.

We've been trying to strike just the right balance of MYSTERY, SENSUALITY and HORROR all while showcasing Denise's amazing physique as well as her beauty. I think this comes pretty damn close. Robert, who shot the very cool images of Denise that make up the central part of the design, will be shooting yet more marketing stills in Allentown, Pennsylvania later this month. I'm sure we would have gotten more than enough photos during production if Robert wasn't also producing and starring in the movie as well as running B-camera. He was wearing too many hats. We all were.

Anyway, the one-sheet is off to the printer hopefully in time to have them for the festival this weekend. The movie, that's another matter. Mia, Eric, William and I are working furiously to finish the audio sweetening, sound effects and music in time. It will be right down to the wire, no doubt. Okay then. Back to the edit bay. More later.

Gregg

Vegas showtimes announced

We're excited to be able to preview BLOOD + KISSES in the premiere slot of Friday, Sept 9, 830pm. It will be followed by a Q&A session. That will be followed by a party.

It will also screen on Saturday, Sept 10, time to be determined but expected to be about 6ish pm.

I just got word on this today and am excited and just a bit stressed. We're still in the final stages of post-production -- finalizing sound design, sweetening the audio, color correcting the picture and composing the score. We are not going to be able to have the movie 100% polished for the screening as the music for one thing will not be complete, but the movie is still very much screenable and will have a very fine temp score in place.

But we will definitely be coming down to the wire on this, working day and night to get the movie in the best possible shape. It's hard to imagine that we've been working on this beast for 9 months and still can't call it complete. But Denise, Robert and I are not going to call it a day until we have the best movie possible.

Anyway, I hope you can make it to Vegas. Drop me a line if you think you are going to come.

Gregg

"Blood + Kisses" to Premiere at Vegas Film Fest Sept 9-11

Okay. Here's the deal. I'll keep it short and sweet as things are happening quickly. I got word just yesterday that we were accepted into our first film festival. Here are the details

WHAT: 2005 Festival of SciFi, Fantasy, Horror & Supernatural.

WHERE: Plaza Hotel, Las Vegas (both screenings and accomodations)

WHEN: Sep 9-11 (exact screen times yet to be announced)

HOW: For tickets and information, please go to the link below

www.MovieNationFestivals.com

So far, I'm going. Denise and Robert will not be able to attend. We have also applied to a number of other horror festivals around the country but have not yet received word on any of them. We will keep you posted as we find out more information, but so far, this is the only sure thing. Sorry for the short notice, but as I said, we just found out ourselves.

This is this particular festivals first year so we don't know much about it. We did meet the organizer and they seem to have their shit together, but we'll soon know for sure. They are having parties every night and will be giving away lots of prizes. The screenings will take place in two screening rooms within the hotel, which also offers a special rate to festival goers.

Hope to see you in Vegas!

Gregg