DISCLAIMER FROM THE TWINS: This IS Horror, boys and grrls, so SOME of these do have VERY naughty content. Blood. Gore. EXTREME gore. Disturbing situations. Nudity. Sexual situations. Violence. Language.

If you are SENSITIVE to this kind of content, be a mature human being and just don’t watch. No need to spoil the fun for us fellow weirdos. We’re not hurting anyone. It just REALLY looks like we are 😉

“It’s In You To Give” by Ama Lea

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Ama Lea grew up in Stephen King Country- Bangor, Maine where she naturally had an inclination to the horror genre from a very early age. She spent her youth making films on old Camcorders, editing between VCRs and taking pictures in cemeteries.

After High School Ama moved to Boston where she majored in editorial photography at New England School of photography. She was Valedictorian of her graduating class. Soon after which she attended grad school at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara, California where she majored in Fashion Photography and Film Studies. She was again, Valedictorian. After college she went on to become a celebrity photographer for many top magazines such as Inked, AP, Revolver, Zink and many more. She worked within the horror industry shooting a fine art photo exhibit entitled The Bloody Best which included portraits of legends in the horror industry which lead to her accepting the position as photographer for Fangoria Magazine where she had the honor of shooting the likes of Roger Corman, Wes Craven, and many more. She went on to create Year of Fear, a sexy parody horror calendar company that releases products annually. Meanwhile she kept her toe in film making by writing and directing several shorts and participating in ABC’s of Death 2.5 for Alamo Drafthouse as well as just finishing a huge festival season with her award winning short film, From Hell She Rises.

Ama is currently working for various publications as an editorial and celebrity photographer.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT:

When asked to be a part of the Soska’s annual blood drive, I was honored! It’s a great cause that’s been a tradition for women in horror and the Soska’s for years. I began to think about the theme…”be a hero.” Obviously capes and tights come to mind first but breaking it down to something even more simple. A hero in your life every day. To me, there is something so heroic about giving your all to another person. So many men have zero idea how to really be a great partner and furthermore, a great lover. To me the ability to give unselfishly to another person is heroic and it’s the same as giving blood. The simple act of donating blood can help save lives. Nearly 4.5 million patients need a blood transfusion a year in the US and Canada alone and only 10% of the population donates per year. If we could increase that number by even 1% the blood deficit in America would disappear. This is a call to arms for the horror community. It’s in all of us to give!

“Surprise Egg” by Hannah Neurotica

Filmmaker Bio:

Hannah Neurotica is the founder of Women in Horror Month, the Ax Wound Film Festival, and published the world’s first known print feminist horror publication, Ax Wound ‘Zine. She is a mixed media artist, writer, and experimental filmmaker whose appeared in Newsweek, The Guardian, Complex.com, Rue Morgue, Bitch, NPR, CBC Radio, and other pop culture media. She has been invited to speak or moderate a panels at events such as Geek Girl Con, Horror Rama, and Horrible Imaginings.

From event organizing to creative projects, Hannah’s passion is rooted in educating and empowering women to share their stories in all artistic forms, while simultaneously creating new spaces/opportunities to amplify what they have to say.

“Blood Bus” by Marilyn Thomas

Credits/bio

Why this is important:

I’ve always been a fan of the blood drive, but because of health issues, have never been able to donate. Last year, I found out that people of color are very rare donors. I realized that as a First Nations person, I wanted to change that. This year, I’m not only donating blood, but I’ve signed up as a bone marrow donor and ensured to check off organ donation. Blood donation is the easiest to give. It takes minutes, and you don’t have to die to help someone out.

‘Kirby, A Hero’ by Nicholas Burman-Vince

Nicholas Vince – Writer and Director

Nicholas Vince played The Chatterer Cenobite in Clive Barker’s Hellraiser & Hellbound: Hellraiser II and Kinski in Barker’s Nightbreed. In 2016 he was awarded the London Horror Society Award for Outstanding Contribution to UK Independent Horror. He is Patron of the London Horror Festival.

His first short film as writer and director, The Night Whispered, screened at festivals in the US, UK and France and is now available on Reelhouse.org. His second film, Your Appraisal, is on it’s festival run and a third, Necessary Evils, will be part of the horror anthology feature film For We Are Many, from Hex Media.

He still acts and recently starred in The Offer, with others from the Hellraiser films. He also stars in the independent feature film, Hollower (dir. MJ Dixon), and numerous short films including the award winning Mindless (dir. Katie Bonham).

He hosts the weekly YouTube show Chattering with Nicholas Vince, where he interviews independent film makers and actors.

His two collections of short stories, What Monsters Do (rated 5*) and Other People’s Darkness are both available on amazon sites. His short story ‘Prayers of Desire’, a new origin story for The Chatterer was published in Hellraiser: Anthology – Volume 2 by Seraphim Inc.

Holly Boyden – Rebekah

Recent graduate of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Holly Boyden previously studies at Goldsmith’s College, University of London and the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain.

She is known for The Night Whispered, @MovieGeek and One In A Million.

She is a trained dancer, specialising in Classical Ballet and Ballroom and Latin American. She speaks fluent Spanish.

Dawson James – Kirby

Film maker, actor, cinematographer, performance capture artist and photographer Dawson James, is known for Scale Down, Ophelia, The Night Whispered and his science fiction short, HUD, which is on its festival run. Later this year he stars in Burying the Mother in Law

He is the creator of the young YouTube channel, Fluffy Dog.

Patrick E. Fagan – Composer

Patrick graduated from The University of West Scotland in 2002 with a BA Honours degree in Commercial Music. Since then, Patrick has worked in many roles within the music industry from music management to event organisation and is now currently working as a music teacher.

After many years performing in various bands, Patrick decided to move into creating music specifically aimed at film, TV and Media.

Director’s Statement:

When I was 19, I had major reconstructive surgery on my face and during the operation half the blood in my body was replaced via transfusion. For years I thought that was an extraordinary amount, but through the my involvement with the Soskas Blood Drive PSA, I’ve learned this is common – which help put into perspective just how urgent the need for blood donations is. Particularly as surgery isn’t the main use for donated blood. In the UK 67% is used to treat medical conditions including anaemia, cancer and blood disorders. So, people regularly need blood to survive.

I particularly like the current promotion by blood.co.uk, #Date2Donate, encouraging people to donate with a friend or family member. What could be more romantic. Getting to know if your partner has a phobia about needles and helping to save someone’s life?

“Nerd Girls” by Adam Marcus

ADAM MARCUS
TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY,
WRITER, DIRECTOR, CO-PRODUCER GUY

A native of New York and Connecticut (a feat in itself), at 11, Adam was a PA on his first studio movie. At 13 he was apprentice editing for Columbia Pictures. At 15, he created the Westport Theatreworks Theatrical Company, directing and producing over 50 shows in 7 years. At NYU he won Best Picture in for his film, ”…so you like this girl”. At 21, Adam set up his first feature film at Disney and less than a year later he had been hired to write and direct New Line Cinema’s “Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday”. At 23 he was the youngest director ever hired by a major studio to write and direct a feature film. He then turned his attention to writing and he and writing partner Debra Sullivan, wrote scripts for Paramount (the adaptation of James Patterson’s “Virgin”), Fox (the original “Black Autumn”), and Lionsgate (the box office #1 “Texas Chainsaw 3D”) .

In 1995 Adam created the Skeleton Crew TheatreWorks where to this day he trains some of the most talented actors in the industry. This troupe has been the backbone of Adam’s theatrical and cinematic casts.

In 1998 Adam directed the indie comedy, “Let It Snow” starring Bernadette Peters. The film was a critical and festival darling at AFI’s LAIFF (where it won several awards), Sundance, New York/Avignon, the Deauville festival in France among many others. At the same time Adam sold several TV series to Kevin Bright Productions, Imagine Television, NBC, Fox and The WB. Adam then directed the Sony Pictures feature film, “Conspiracy”, which he co-wrote with Sullivan. Starring Val Kilmer, Jennifer Esposito and Gary Cole. The latest Marcus/Sullivan project written by the duo, is “Momentum”, starring Olga Kurylenko, James Purefoy and Morgan Freeman.

Recently episodes of Adam’s web series, Connected was the winner for best short subject at three separate festivals.

He and Sullivan have recently partnered with long time producer Bryan S. Sexton to form Skeleton Crew Productions. They already have several films slated for release next year and 2 new television series slated for mid- 2018.

As a director Adam has three new films in the pipeline, “The Plantation”, “The Harvest” and “Dread”.

Secret Santa is a return to the genre Adam loves dearly. He’s so thrilled to be back, knee deep in blood and madness!

DEBRA SULLIVAN

Debra is an actress/writer/producer. As an actress, over the years, she has appeared in countless plays, films, television shows and commercials. This 2nd generation Los Angelino has played lead roles in comedies, dramas and musicals. In television, she has had lead and/or recurring roles on “Criminal Minds”, “Private Practice”, “Big Love”, “ER”, “Days of Our Lives” and “Cold Case”, as well as many others. Some of her favorite films roles include, “Conspiracy” with Val Kilmer, “Let It Snow” (a Sundance Winner) with Bernadette Peters, “Bring It On, All or Nothing” with Hayden Panetierre, and “Brewster’s Millions” with the late Richard Pryor and John Candy. Recently, she starred opposite Steve Guttenberg in the film, “Lookin’ Up”.

When not acting, she and her husband/partner, Adam Marcus have written over 50 screenplays, including, “Conspiracy” “Momentum”, “Texas Chainsaw 3D and “The Plantation””. Their latest script, “Secret Santa” is a film she not only performs in but co-wrote and co-produced with Marcus and their producing partner, Bryan S. Sexton.

“Secret Santa”, a scathing “horromedy”, is burning up the festival circuit right now and is the first feature out of the gate for the trio’s newly formed production company, Skeleton Crew Productions.

Creating Skeleton Crew with Marcus and Sexton has been one of the most rewarding aspects of her career in the business. The company is committed to making entertainment, at all budget levels while giving opportunities to those who haven’t had their “breaks” yet or to work in the field of the business they’ve always wanted to. They currently have several films and television shows in the pipeline, the majority of which have strong female protagonists, something Marcus and Sullivan have always specialized in.

You can follow Debra on Twitter and Instagram @debsullivanm, and on Facebook as Debra Sullivan.

ADAM MARCUS STATEMENT – WiHM BLOOD DRIVE

When I was in film school at NYU, there were two films that would change my idea of artful storytelling. The first was Katherine Bigalow’s “Near Dark”. It was a dark, scary, romantic adrenaline rush. As a young man I was not accustomed to seeing a film this kick-ass made by a woman. A woman who not only gave James Cameron a run for his money when it came to action but was far more interested in the connection between it’s characters than the average horror movie. It knocked my socks off. Then I saw Luc Besson’s “La Femme Nikita”. It was a mash-up of all the things I loved about French Cinema and American Movies. At it’s center was the story of a lost young woman who is as bad an anti-hero as you’ll find. But you love her. She is a murderer who is trained to use her pathological talents for the “government”. We’ve seen this story a thousand times and it’s always a bit ham-fisted. Why does this one work? Because it is the story of a woman and the complications of being a woman used by a world of men for their purposes, that’s why! She goes from being owned by the male-constructed system to owning herself. And it was written and directed by a man. It showed me that a man can tell stories about strong, kick-ass women that still get to be feminine. And that was it… I was hooked.

Since then, I have struggled to do the impossible in Hollywood… tell stories about strong women. For twenty-five years I have tirelessly written movies about women, in every genre. Many of those scripts have been bought, but only a few have even been made. Most sit on shelves in studio offices.

Before it was chic to make stories about women, I wanted to. No, I yearned to. Every time I’d sit down with my brilliant partner, Debra, and come up with a new story, the response from our representatives was always, “For the love of all that’s holy, can’t you please write something with a male protagonist”? That’s something they don’t teach in film school, or in three day seminars on writing movies… if you want a movie to get made, write about men.

Well… fuck that! Seriously. Fuck that!

A couple of years ago, Debra and I wrote a project based on a wonderful novel our company optioned named, Nightspinners. It was the story of twin sisters who can speak to each other telepathically. Again, it’s about ownership of one’s identity. It’s about strong women. One heroic and one psychotic. But both will not and can not be ignored. When we went searching for our director, I said, “It has to be a woman. This is story that should be told by a woman”. We started making a list but our list got tossed out the window when we found out that Jen and Sylvia Soska were repped at our same agency. After much hemming and hawing (“they’ve seen every twin story out there”) they sent them the script. Twenty-four hours later we received a two line response, “Fuck yeah we’ll do Nightspinners! Cause it’s fucking awesome”! Thus began the beautiful friendship between the Twisted Twins and Skeleton Crew.

When the Soska’s came to Debra and me to create something for WiHM, we could not have said, “YES” faster. We got to work immediately on hatching our PSA. Enter the NERDGIRLS!

NerdGirls is a film series that Debra and I created over a year ago. It’s about a young woman, Alex, who since childhood has been obsessed with what she was always told was “Boy Stuff”. Comics, Kung-Fu Movies, Superheroes. Her best friend in grade school, a super-serious tom boy, Maxine, even used to beat up the boys in school who taunted Alex for playing with Giant Robots rather than dolls. When Alex was eight, her father left the family and she blamed herself, thinking she was a bad daughter and not “girly” enough. So she abandoned and threw out everything she loved. Her comics and toys and worse of all… Maxine. 15 years later, Alex’s life is a mess. She’s forced herself to be what society thinks of as a “girl”, all the while still daydreaming of comic books and obsessively sketching on anything she can. On the day that she is robbed at her day job, finds her boyfriend in bed with another… man, and is kicked out of her apartment, she stumbles upon a shop selling the same GIANT ROBOT she abandoned years ago. She rushes into the store to find… Maxine is running the place! Rekindling their friendship, Alex finds a new home and the real adventure of her NerdGirl life is about to begin.

Our WiHM PSA is a horror episode of NerdGirls. It’s about the snakepit that is Blind Dating and the power of friendship and ass-kicking femininity! Oh, and did I mention there’s lot of blood?

I’m so excited to be a part of this years Blood Drive and WiHM! Not just as a man who loves stories about women, but as a human being who loves stories about all of us!

DEBRA SULLIVAN STATEMENT – WiHM BLOOD DRIVE

I am so excited to be a part of this year’s Women in Horror Month Blood Drive. As a woman in the industry and one who has done the majority of her work in the horror genre, I am honored to support the talented and ever amazing Soska Sisters in this annual event.

While we had a lot of fun making our film, our true heart was in the message we’re helping to send out to the world, the importance of donating blood. When you donate, you save lives, period. In these unpredictable times we live in, with more and more things happening, we have to stick together and be there for each other. The horror community has always been a source of people who care. So let’s care together. Go out and donate. You’ll be blessed that you did.

Let the blood-letting begin!!!

“Love Swallows” by Nicole McClure

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Nicole McClure is a writer, director, editor, colorist, and VFX artist. A woman of many talents, Nicole’s body of work is as diverse as she is. Regardless of what position she holds on a production, her work always elevates the pieces to a whole new level.

A two time WiHM Massive Blood drive director before this with her partner, Aramis Sartorio, the two have a hilarious, often shocking, and blood fantastic take on horror to get you in the mood to donate blood.

Check more of her work here – https://vimeo.com/user38155251

“The Newish Testament” – by Jamie DeWolf and Sharkey Stiletto

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

JAMIE DEWOLF is a writer, performer, film director, show producer and circus ringmaster from Oakland, CA. A filmmaker since his teens, DeWolf wrote and directed his first feature film Smoked, a “fast paced, smart, witty dark comedy crime caper” about a botched Cannabis Club robbery in Oakland. The film is described as “Mean, bloody and demented. It’s also piss-your-pants hilarious, maddeningly nihilistic…and an insanely energetic romp.” Smoked was picked up for international distribution by Indican Studios, who also released the cult film Boondock Saints.    

DeWolf’s original short films, known for their provocative and boundary pushing subject matter, have won multiple awards from “Best Acting Performance” (A Girl and a Gun Briefs 2013), “Most Terrifying Storyline” (U Turn Scream 2013), “Best Cinematography” (Ricochet in Reverse Scream 2014), and “Best Writing” (Rio Grind 2014). His short films Hey Baby Hey and OK Monster! both won the Grand Prize Audience Award the year of their premiere. His shorts Double Agent and Black Out were both chosen to be featured at the CineKink Film Festival in NYC. His short U Turn was selected for a The Invoking 2, a feature length horror film anthology franchise by Ruthless Pictures. He was voted “Best Film-Maker” by the East Bay Express in 2016. 

DeWolf has made a dedication to intertwining cinema and social activism, shooting and directing over 32 films for the Bigger Picture Project, an acclaimed, statewide series of films on the youth prevention of Diabetes. The series was featured in the NY Times, the PBS NewsHour, Colorlines and KQED. He’s helmed national film campaigns for the Raise Up Project focusing on the high school drop-out crisis, the Write Home Project which was coupled with a writing program on youth homelessness, and the Off/Page Project in partnership with the Center for Investigative Reporting. The Off/Page Project resulted in the trilogy Whispers from the Fields, This is Home and Locked (in), acclaimed for creating a new hybrid of “lyricism and facts”. His films have accumulated over 5 million shared views across the world, winning the Real Food Media Grand Prize two years in a row with the films Thin Line and Home Flavored, and received the Spirit of 1848 award from the American Public Health Association. He continues to direct and shoot a variety of projects from documentary, music video and narrative films.

Currently DeWolf hosts his variety show Tourettes Without Regrets every First Thursday in Oakland, tours with NPR’s storytelling series Snap Judgment and is writing his next feature film. You can find his CD Vaude Villain featuring his comedy performances on Itunes .

Film-Makers Statement:

For this short, we wanted to confront widely held fairytales through a critical eye. This lead us down some zany paths, on a quest of what makes blood magical and what makes it absurd.