Mad About Fan Films

Hey there.

I've been so busy with working on the old website and other things that I forgot to mention about something else I've been getting into the past few weeks.

Fan Films.

I love them, especially if they're creative, unique, and touch on something I like.

I want to talk about three films in particular, involving things that I'm a huge fan of: The Incredible Hulk, superheroes, and werewolves.

First up, the Hulk: I'm a huge fan of the big green guy from way back. Beginning with the comics, the various cartoons, and, of course, the 70s TV show. Meeting Lou Ferrigno in person still ranks up there as one of the coolest moments of my life. So it was cool to check out a fan film about the Hulk online recently.
It's called "Hulk:Aftermath" and there are several things I liked about this six minute short: One, the very cool use of the music from the 70s TV show. Not only is this a good homage to the old show, but it fits in very well to the story. Second, the guy who plays Banner fits the character to a T, complete with glasses and purple pants, (straight out of the comics) so to pull that off was very good.
Next, the storyline involves not the green goliath that we all know and love, but rather the grey Hulk, which was the color of the first incarnation when the character was first introduced. Hardly anyone touches on the true origins of the Hulk, so for them to touch on that in the movie was well done. And finally, they incorporated footage from the recent Hulk movie to show Banner's transformation. They did that very well, using a morphing process and also using selected scenes from the movie to tell the story. I won't spill too much more on the plot, but Gary M. Lobstein, who directed the six minute short did a very good job with it. Go to the link above and check it out for yourself. I hope he plans to do more films in the future, especially ones involving the Hulk.

Next, comes superheroes. It's rare to find films these days that touch on heroes with human issues, such as love and relationships. Rarer still to find it in a fan film. I found one online with a film called "Cape Chaser" .
This funny and witty short film touches on two heroes, who as the film starts, just got thru, um, being intimate. When the male hero, Ultimus, is called away by his fellow colleagues, he's not there for a meeting, but rather an intervention on why he shouldn't get serious with Serena, the female hero.
I won't give away any more than that, but I found it funny, unique and giving off a different spin to what we're used to when we see superheroes in action. Click here to see this short film (It helps if you have Quicktime to see it) Hopefully, this won't be the last film involving these characters, cause at the end, it definitely makes you want to see what happens next.

Last, but not least, is a subject near and dear to my heart: werewolves. Recently, I came across a website that had just made a fan made werewolf movie, "Curse of the Wolf".
Now, going into this, I had my doubts about such a film, especially after seeing more than my share of crappy, awful, pathetic werewolf movies. Films that had no plot, made no sense, and overall was a complete waste of time and space.
I didn't find that at all with this film.
FIrst of all, it embraces the fact that it is a comedy. There were several moments that I laughed out loud in fact. Second, the characters were believable. Characters that you can see or know in person thrown into an totally wild situation. Next, the storyline makes sense as far as the movie goes, so it wasn't something that would make the die hard fan feel like this film was a bust, which it wasn't in my opinion.
Now, one of the things I strongly look for in a werewolf movie is how the werewolf looks and how the transformations go. The werewolf in this one is one that you would expect from a student film (a guy in a werewolf mask and fur covered torso) and there's no transformations scenes either. Now to me, that would be a disappointment, but it's OK as long as you know what to expect going in. Overall I found this to be a humorous and witty film, even with a few well placed scares here and there. There were also some surprises as well, such as who is the werewolf responsible for the attacks and a nice little twist at the end after the maddening climax.
I give props to John McGuigan, the cast and the crew at Fire Assault Productions for putting together this effort. I found very interesting reading the behind the scenes stuff as far as shooting and things like that. It made seeing the finished product even more enjoyable knowing what it took to get it all together. And as one who is planning to do his own werewolf movie in the near future, reading about that was very helpful. Good job all around for a film that puts many of the other werewolf movies I've seen lately to shame. Imagine the possibilites if you had the budget these other guys had with their crappy efforts.
Anyhow, if you want to check it out, click the link above and you can download the 62-minute epic for yourself. I, however, have a better suggestion. Go to their website and order the DVD copy of the film., like I did It costs $5, not counting shipping, and has a lot of cool extras, including deleted scenes, trailers, and two bonus student videos that are werewolf related.

OK, those are my two cents on three fan made films. I'll keep an eye out on any more and post them here. Blog at you later.