As an independent producer working in Minneapolis, I have had the opportunity to take part in a wild variety of projects. I think you’ll sense a trend, or at least a common voice or attitude, about a lot of the projects seen here. Consider this an online portfolio of those projects, and dig in! Many of the movies here are accessible to watch in their entirety. They are listed in alphabetical order, but usually have a date attached to them to help place them in context. A note: I specialize in working with no budget at all — there are fewer total dollars spent on this page than on many catering bills. It is a blessing and a curse.

TRANSYLVANIA TELEVISION REAL MEANIN’ OF HALLOWEEN SPECIAL SHOW. The epic one-hour TV special made in 2010 is an incredible blend of puppets, VFX and comedy. A love letter to the 80’s comedies I grew up on, and our own entry into the world of television holiday perennial shows, this one has it all. Furry Ackermonster and his friends at the strangest TV station in Transylvania seek the one true meaning of Halloween, a journey that takes them from the wisdom of the talk show gypsy to the hidden crypt of mysteries itself, guarded by the Keeper of the Crypt. Meanwhile, the Vampire Le Shoc explores the mysteries of love at the Denver airport lost luggage room, and Von Bucket stages a forbidden party that’s soon crashed by a serial killer! Great viewing for that adult Halloween party!
AWF OLD SCHOOL: As a by-product of working on the documentary “Jobbers,” we’ve also had the opportunity to participate in the creation of the American Wrestling Federation’s new TV pitch “AWF Old School.” In collaboration with Tony Denucci’s AWF promotion, Style Commando has assembled the pilot episode of a weekly series aimed at midwestern regional television. With appearances by Lenny Lane, Sheik Adnan Alkaissy, and Arik Cannon, this episode was shot at the Isanti Civic Center in 2008. Host Scotty Zappa provides the color commentary in this pitch tape for the show. Tony Denucci liked the format well enough to take it and not pay me, so there must be some merit to it! But, we hardly invented the medium of the low-budget wrestling show, so he can have it. If you want something similar made for you, contact me. If you have the money.
ATOMIC SHOCK THEATER A true blast from the past. I took part in what can only be described as a midnight movie horror host acting troupe for a few years, hosting godawful movies at a series of venues in Minneapolis. As Doctor Red Scary, I usually wrote the scripts and acted as master of ceremonies for the stupidity that would follow. If you were a part of the experience, you know why you need this, and relive the strange atmosphere of Atomic Shock Theater with this thoroughly goofy clip tape.
EMMANUELLE: PRISONER OF FRANKENSTEIN: Featuring cast members of GO TO HELL and PLANETFALL, this was shot in a few hours and posted in a few days to try to capitalize on a “grindhouse” trailer entry for Robert Rodriguez’s SXSW panel the year his film PLANET TERROR came out. Thanks to some coverage on Ain’t it Cool News, the hits shot up and this became one of my most-seen pieces. Charles Hubbell appears as Doctor Ludvig Von Frankenstein, and my long-time collaborator Troy La Faye does an impeccable Heinrich Himmler. The voice over is me, doing the 1970’s AIP-blaxploitation impersonation. Also starring Heidi Fellner as Emmanuelle, Renee Werbowski as Ilsa, Chaz Truog as Shirtless Nazi Guard, and the suffering wife Tricia Heagle’s backside as Naked Branded Girl.
PLANETFALL: When a military transport crash lands on a war-torn planet, competing factions seek the last, lost stockpile of the illicit psychic-power enhancing drug Psylenol. Set against a backdrop that combines the apocalyptic worldview of the Mad Max trilogy with the lawless antihero psychology of the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns, Planetfall packs a visual effects-packed science fiction punch. Get it here from Indiflix.com, or rent from Netflix.

An official selection of the San Diego ComicCon Film Festival in 2005.
GO TO HELL: The first feature film from Carschool Filmorama, a group of independent madmen from the land of cheese (Wisconsin). Steeped in drive-in culture and exploitation filmmaking lore, the film centers around tabloid news reporter Dario Dare, who, in the search for the ultimate supernatural cover story for his Weekly World News-esque paper the National Explainer, becomes embroiled in a supernatural assassination plot that reads like JFK but screams like The Exorcist!

Transported to Hell by the minions of subdemon Bob Beezly, Dare is blackmailed into assassinating Cardinal Ponti, who is actually a Vatican turncoat who traded his soul for super powers and refuses to pay up. Beezly holds Dario’s soul prisoner in Hell to insure his complete cooperation, his new job: kill Ponti and retrieve his soul. On his mission, he must team up with Vatican secret agent Marion Tango, Ponti’s bodyguard and advisor.

Available from Troma!
TERROR REPORT: A feature film made with my students at the Art Institutes International, Minnesota. As a class project, the idea of a feature film is insane enough. To make one about a terrorist attack on a major metropolitan sports arena is another thing entirely! While overly ambitious, the picture does have it’s highlights. I had a blast directing and editing the opening, pre-title sequence, when most of the students had gone on to other things.