It’s been awhile since the last update, it’s been pretty hectic! We’re currently in production in Franklin, PA on the 3rd feature film by Adam Ahlbrandt (‘Sight’ and ‘The Burnt House’) and I am coordinating all the SPFX. The main cast includes James Brown, Tim Cronin, Natalie Jean, Adam Huss and Tabetha Ray. Produced by Brian Iglesias and Anton Sattler of Veterans Inc. (who also produced and directed the amazing Korean War documentary ‘Chosen’)
We’re working with graduates and students from the Tom Savini SPFX school headed by Savini graduate Tom Kollmer – we’re killin it! Literally! The movie is a horror/comedy in the tradition of ‘Evil Dead’ and ‘Friday the 13th. A group of ghost hunters venture into an ancient cemetery rumored to be haunted by the spirits of people killed during demonic possession and all wackiness ensues.
Check out some pictures below and we’ll have a lot more updates soon!
Our dear friends in the Disgraceland Hook Squad - Spliff, Jill, Robbie & Brandon were in a VERY Serious Car Accident. You may know them from some of our live shows with the NYC Zombie Crawl. The have done so much for the suspension and sideshow communities over the years and now it’s time to give back. We’re going to be helping to coordinate fundraisers ASAP and anything you can donate right now would be amazing.
An advance Nassau Chainsaw track off the new album has been made available on iTunes for only .99 cents and all proceeds will also go to the Disgraceland medical fund, so you can buy the track and make a donation at the same time - CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD “REQUIP” NOW!
Aug 11th @ Coney Island Side Show by the Seashore - 9PM – 1208 Surf Ave Off W 12th St, Brooklyn, NY
Coney Island Sideshow performers (Benefit Organized by Remy Vicious)
Suggested donation $10 – Come see some of the world’s greatest sideshow performers for a good cause!
Appearances & performances by-
Squidling Bros – Jellyboy the Clown, Betty Bloomerz and Alejandro
Orbism and Disgraceland Hook Squad
Coney Island USA performers Donny Vomit, Insectavora, Heather Holiday, Serpentina and Remy Vicious
All proceeds will be donated to the DisGraceLanD Benefit Fund. RSVP on Facebook here!
Aug 27th @ Club Europa In Brooklyn 5PM $10
Billyclub Sandwich
Nassau Chainsaw DisGraceLanD Demolition Committee
CarBomb (Relapse Records)
Red Eyed Devil
+ 2 TBA
All proceeds will be donated to the DisGraceLanD Benefit Fund.
Sept 25th @ Cha Chas in Coney Island, Brooklyn NY
Nassau Chainsaw DisGraceLanD Demolition Committee
Gods Green Earth
Jelly Boy & Squidling Brothers Sideshow Circus
Strip For Pain
Coney Island Side Show Performers
Another Special Guest & Surprise Appearances to Be Announced
All proceeds will be donated to the DisGraceLanD Benefit Fund.
More Info Coming Soon….
If you want to get involved in other ways, like promoting or performing or helping to set up a fundraiser, please email Razor at nassauchainsaw@gmail.com
“On their way from Texas to California, Spliff, Jill, Robby and Brandon were involved in a very serious car accident. Spliff was Driving, Brandon was shotgun, Jill behind Brandon and Robbie behind Spliff. The passenger side back tire blew out, the SUV started swerving and flipped 5 times. Spliff is still currently unconscious and in Critical Condition and has been airlifted to a hospital. Robby has also been airlifted to the same hospital and is also in critical condition. Jill and Brandon are badly bruised and cut up real bad, but both of them are coherent and seem to be ok.”
For a taste of Disgraceland check out the Nassau Chainsaw Disgraceland Demolition Committee’s music video for ‘Behind Enemy Lines’ featuring Spliff and Robbie with the rest of the crew;
The Burnt House, a movie I co-produced and handled all the SPFX for came out on DVD today! Fangoria is doing a contest where you can win copies now, or you can find it in stores or online everywhere! You can also find it on your Netflix queue! Check out the official press release and new trailer for more info, it’s also coming to Blu Ray on July 27th!
Invincible Pictures releases Adam Ahlbrandt’s terrifying horror “The Burnt House” to Blu-Ray DVD
On July 27th 2010, Invincible Pictures will release Adam Ahlbrandt’s horror “The Burnt House,” to Blu-Ray DVD. One of the most frightening Indie films of the year, “The Burnt House” will paralyze you with fear. Not only will the anticipated film be released on Blu-Ray, but it will also be available for audiences everywhere July 6th 2010 on standard DVD.
An Index films Production, “The Burnt House,” is the story of Megan and Joe, a couple who have recently experienced the death of their infant son to SIDS. The tragedy has spawned a rift between the two, and driven Megan into a secret affair. After Joe loses his mother to a heart attack, the couple moves out to Joe’s rural childhood home seeking a fresh start. Once in the isolated home, strange things begin to occur and long kept secrets attempt to dig their way out of the past. What happened on November 3rd? Will it happen again? “The Burnt House,” will leave you on the edge of your seat as you follow the lives of a couple striving to get over their loss while confronting the fear of the unexpected forgotten.
Fans of Metal and Hardcore music will enjoy the film’s soundtrack, which includes original score elements from the metal band Lull (solo project of Mick Harris of Napalm Death fame). The score also includes the bands Cleric (Web of Mimicry) and the noise band Neatherworld.
Lead actor of “The Burnt House” J. D. Brown has also acted in a number of horror films including Fever Dreams’ “Wicked Lake” and “Late Fee.” In addition to film, Brown fronts the French Hardcore band BERET! who have been featured performers at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vans Warped Tour. Lead actress Monica Knight (Windcroft, The Roadhouse) was most recently in an official selection of Sundance called “Abbie Cancelled”. The film also features actor Tony Luke Jr. who has been in several major features including 10th And Wolf, Invincible, and his award winning first leading role “The Nail: The Story Of Joey Nardone”.
Tom Ashley, owner of Invincible Pictures, characterizes the film as “not just your typical scary movie, but a film that is both creative and eye grabbing through its terrifying storytelling.” The acclaimed Internet horror site, Fear.Net, described Ahlbrandt’s film as “a poetic nightmare,” due to its chilling plotline. “The Burnt House is my most personal project to date…its an expression of my deepest fears; loss of family, betrayal and infidelity. Instead of following the beaten path, I used a combination of new school horror and classical story telling. I think ‘The Burnt House’ defies typical genre conventions, taking time to develop the characters so it’s that much more powerful when you reach the film’s climax,” says Adam Ahlbrandt on his second directorial debut. His first film “Sight,” which he directed and wrote was released by LionsGate in 2008. Ahlbrandt was also a contract director for Relapse Record, directing several music videos in the extreme metal scene (Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Today Is The Day, Burnt By The Sun) and was nominated for best music video of 2004 (Headbangers Ball).
Doug Sakmann, who co-produced with Ahlbrandt and handled all of the SPFX on the film, also has deep roots in both music and horror, having directed a series of slasher films set on the Vans Warped Tour (Punk Rock Holocaust) in which many of the bands die and perform. Sakmann has also produced and directed several music videos, most recently for Nassau Chainsaw and The A.K.A.s (featured on The Burnt House DVD). He describes his time on the set of “The Burnt House,” as always an experience. “I’ve been working with Adam for a number of years now and the brutality of the death scenes he comes up with still never cease to amaze me. Though we’ve worked together to create some horrible situations under intense conditions, the cast and crew are always excited to bring Alhbrandt’s twisted visions to life!”
July 16-18th I’ll be in the Windy City hosting Strip for Pain with Joanna Angel at the Exxxtacy Chicago 2010 Convention at the Donald E Stephens Convention Center (5555 N River Rd, Rosemont, IL 60018) – Along with Joanna, the convention and the show will also feature appearances by Burning Angels Draven Star, Misti Dawn, Jessie Lee, Kleio and Pheonix Askani! We have not performed Strip for Pain live in 2010 yet so I’m excited to beat some people up! We’re working on a tour for the next few months too so stay tuned…
Strip for Pain will be performed at 7:00pm Saturday evening July 17th at the convention with an encore performance at the official afterparty at the Admiral Theater (3940 W Lawrence Ave, Chicago, IL) on July 18th along with Joanna Angel feature dancing at the club!
Our good friends in Cleric aka Mr. 19 will be coming out to Chicago with us as well, a 4 piece music ensemble that provides a diverse soundtrack of porn-funk, jazz and metal to the Strip for Pain live show. Come party with us! Mr. 19′s Psychotic-Metal alter ego ‘Cleric’ will also be performing a live show in Chicago on July 16th at Ronnie’s (9pm – 21+ – 2101 N. California Ave, Chicago IL, with Beak, Colossus and Imperial Battlesnake).
Check out the Strip for Pain Ultimate Trailer on Bizarre Mag.com
Check out the new music video that I produced for Vinnie Paz “Keep Movin’ On” Feat. Shara Worden from Vinnie’s debut solo album, “Season of the Assassin” in stores June 22, 2010. The video was directed by our good friend Joe Frantz, gaffed and gripped by Zafer Ulkucu and Tim Cronin, Makeup by Andrea MacKay and Fawn Doherty.
“Keep Movin’ On” features a unique cast of stars, including Philadelphia icon TONY LUKE JR (producer, star of “The Nail,” “Invincible,” etc.) playing the part of a down-and-out factory worker. Portraying a U.S. Marine and Iraq veteran is SCOTT VOGEL (lead singer of the hardcore band Terror)
AAnd in the part of his hometown girlfriend is the stunning GINA LYNN (considered by some to be the “Julia Roberts” of the adult film world).
“Keep Movin’ On” is directed by JOE FRANTZ (producer and cinematographer known for his on-screen cameos on JACKASS, MTV’s VIVA LA BAM, BAM’S UNHOLY UNION, the CKY VIDEO SERIES, etc). Frantz has also served as both producer and cinematographer all of the classic BAM MARGERA music videos and reality/making-of features which have sculpted the face of the alternative European music scene for the past decade (HIM, CKY, The 69 Eyes, Viking Skull, etc.).
Thanks to all the undead who attended the May 30th events in Brooklyn! There were so many sick looking ghouls and we had a bloody good time! Thanks to all our SPFX artists, our zombie masses, Disgraceland Hook Squad, The Raspberry Bros and The Undead! You can see some photos on Time Out NY, videos on NYScene.org and don’t forget to add your photos to the Facebook group!
Williamsburg residents have recently been terrified by vandalizing ninjas. Now zombies are set to roam the streets. Fear not, they come in peace. On May 30, Doug Sakmann – director of the upcoming zombie football film Play Dead—will unleash his annual Zombie Crawl on the neighborhood.
The crawls began in 2007 with a few hundred zombie diehards, but have grown into family-friendly events that had about 700 zombies running through Times Square last October. “It was marketed toward our specific crowd of horror movie people,” explained Sakmann. “It has grown to everyone disgusted by zombies, wished they were zombies, or has some sort of thoughts on zombies.”
In honor of Play Dead (watch the trailer here), this year’s crawl will have a sports theme, so expect tons of zombie jocks escorting their zombie cheerleaders to the zombie football game and zombie versus human tug of war in McCarren Park. Sakman suggests people come to the crawl already “zombified” but there will be free makeup stations for those not brave enough to turn themselves into an undead.
Despite the recent upswing of vampires into the cultural zeitgeist, Sakmann expects to get his biggest turnout of zombies to date. He’s protective of his beloved zombies and dismisses the vampire obsessions. He says they come in waves and tend to get overstated. “In certain circles, zombies have always been the new vampires.”
There is a bit of a rivalry between the two camps as evidenced by the vampire enthusiasts that often show up to terrorize the zombie crawlers. In the end, Sakmann doesn’t think vampires pose a serious threat to his crawls or line of work. “Zombies will always prevail because they can walk in the sun.”
That’s right, it’s time for the Springtime NYC Zombie Crawl! All the info is below, it starts at 3pm, everything is ALL AGES and goes all night!! We have lots of bloody action at the afterparty at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn (Buy tickets NOW) including a live performance from NYC Punk-rockers THE UNDEAD, featuring Bobby Steele (ex-Misfits), zombie movies Mystery Science Theater 3000 stylee with The Raspberry Brothers, some Play Dead: The Movie world premieres with the Play Dead author Ryan Brown in attendance as well as a Q and A with myself and the cast and crew of the project, DJ Jeremy Bastard (Trash, Glamdammit, NC-17) spinning tunes after 11pm and tons more!! Also, Troma Entertainment will be in the house with The Toxic Avenger as well as DVD prizes for the costume contest winners! We’ll also be screening some Troma clips at the afterparty!!
It all starts in Brooklyn at 3pm at The Charleston 174 Bedford Ave (Between N 7th & N 8th) Brooklyn, NY 11211 – The first stop and the crawl event FREE and is ALL AGES! Zombies can eat pizza and drink booze (if you’re over 21+) while civilians are zombified for two hours!
We’ll have our zombie technicians on hand to zombify the crowd but we also encourage civilians to come zombified as well as we will be doing a zombie costume contest! We also encourage a sports/varsity theme in honor of Play Dead, so bring out your best undead jocks, cheerleaders and football players! The crawl will start about 5:00pm and go into the evening before ending at the official after party at 7:00pm!
At 5:00pm, the zombies will mobilize up Bedford Ave and head to:
McCarren Park – N 12th and Bedford – Zombie Football Game – Blood Fights, Human Tug O War with Disgraceland Hook Squad and more madness! Win prizes including DVD’s from Backseat Conceptions!
At 6:30pm, the zombies will mobilize again and head back down Bedford avenue for grand zombie parade to the final stop:
7:00pm – Zombie Dance Party A Go-Go with Play Dead, Ryan Brown and the Raspberry Brothers Knitting Factory Brooklyn – 361 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn, NY, 11211
- Free book signing and meet and greet from 7-8pm with author Ryan Brown and the Cast and Crew of Play Dead: The Movie
- $10 after 8pm for the Zombie Dance Party A Go-Go which includes:
- PLAY DEAD premiere screening of the Redband trailer and some selected scenes
- The Raspberry Brothers, a team of NYC comedians who will mock the hell out of campy old zombie flicks (MST3k stylee), including clips from Zombie (Lucio Fulci, 1979) and the Crazies (George Romero, 1973) and more!
- Zombie Dance Party with DJ Jeremy Bastard (Trash, NC-17) with zombie go-go dancers, a hot zombie contest, live music and more madness to be announced!
The zombies from THRILL THE WORLD, the Michael Jackson’s Thriller-dance-around-the-world-on-the-same-day-at-same-time event who will be coming out to teach people the thriller dance and we’ll be doing a dance and sing-along! We’ll be doing sing-alongs to other classic Monster hits too!
Stay tuned to the site for the official routing and more announcements about entertainment and other goodies being added!
Check it out, the exclusive first look ate Play Dead trailer on Fangoria.com! You can also see tons of pictures, behind the scenes video, press and more at the OFFICIAL WEBSITE!
Directed by Doug Sakmann, the preview “is just a taste of what’s to come for PLAY DEAD,” he says. “We will be releasing a more extreme red-band trailer in conjunction with the NYC Zombie Crawl event Sunday, May 30 in Brooklyn. That will premiere at the Crawl after-party at the new Knitting Factory in Williamsburg. We’ll have Ryan Brown on hand for a meet-and-greet and to sign books, and before the screening we’ll do a Q&A with myself, Ryan and the cast and crew of PLAY DEAD: THE MOVIE. Also, Joe Frantz of MTV’s JACKASS and VIVA LA BAM has put together an amazing behind-the-scenes feature on the making of the project, which will also be released in the next few weeks.”
All this is prelude for what Sakmann hopes will eventually be a full-length PLAY DEAD movie. “We always have a lot of fun with zombies, and Ryan’s book has given us so much great material to work with. It would be a pleasure to be able to bring the full story of PLAY DEAD to the big screen!”
The aforementioned Zombie Crawl starts at The Charleston, 174 Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, with the ghouls assembling at 3 p.m. and then heading up at 5 p.m. to the first stop: McCarren Park and Bedford and North 12th for a zombie football game, blood fights, a human tug of war with Disgraceland Hook Squad and more. “We’re looking for some varsity zombies to join us!” Sakmann says. “All zombies are welcome, but we’re going to be playing some undead, football so zombie cheerleaders and jocks are encouraged to join in!”
From there, the Crawl “will be heading over to the Knitting Factory [361 Metropolitan Avenue] for a free meet-and-greet with PLAY DEAD author Ryan Brown and the cast and crew of the movie from 7-8 p.m. After that, the main party is $10 and includes the showing of the red-band trailer, other screenings and, after 10 p.m., a zombie dance party with DJs, zombie go-go dancers, a hot zombie contest, live music and more madness to be announced!” For more info on PLAY DEAD, check out its official website.”
I’m currently producing and directing a fun zombie football project called “Play Dead”, based on a novel by Ryan Brown. We’re currently doing some final casting to round out the cast and we also need a crowd for the big game scenes! You can check out the casting call here – Shooting begins on April 10th, so get back to us soon if you want to be involved – email casting@backseatconceptions.com.
You can check out the OFFICIAL WEBSITE here for up-to-date details, casting and behind the scenes videos and more!
About ‘Play Dead’:
A horror/thriller/comedy in the spirit of ‘Friday Night Lights’ and ‘Shawn of the Dead’. The story centers on zombies bent on revenge in a football-obsessed town. When a high school football team is murdered by a rival team, a local witch brings the dead players back to life as zombies so they can trounce their rivals in one last game and save their own souls….
Check out the first audition of our 2 leads, Cole Logan (Brandon Jones) and Savannah Hickham (Kate Boyer) here!
After 10 months of post-production the A.K.A.s video I directed and produced is finally done! Keep in mind most of the shots you see are an average of 10-15 individual shots per frame composited together, all in all it was a lot of work to make it look sweet! A throwback to the old Frankie and Annette beach parties, a little somethin’ somethin’ to make your warmer during these winter months…check it!
Directed by Doug Sakmann
From the Album “Animal Summer” available from Paper & Plastick Records paperandplastick.com
Starring Kim Reo, Stacia Eve Paul, Natalie Jean, Kathryn Butler, Leila Aly and the A.K.A.s myspace.com/theakas
Directed and Produced by Doug Sakmann for Backseat Conceptions backseatconceptions.com
Shot by Adam Ahlbrandt and Doug Sakmann
Props designed and created by Evan Cairo www.evancairo.com
Gaffer - Zafer Ulkucu
Grip – Tim Cronin
VTR/Production Coordinator – Nick Esposito
Assistant Camera – Alex McCarron
Makeup: Sherrie Cox
Wardrobe Stylist: Cecelia DeVille
Wardrobe Provided by: Sourpuss Clothing sourpussclothing.com
PAs: Julia Saunders, Jonathan Norcross, John Woods
Still Photography: Kencredible
Shot at Suite 79 Gallery in the Piazza – Northern Liberties suite-79.com
Edited by David Popolow
Editing Assistance: Alexander McCarron, Sean Coia, Nick Esposito
