Deathcember thoughts

Sunday, July 11, 2021

Personal Jebus Disc Review

Prologue: I apologize for the delay in the review of this Personal Jebus disc but I had a lot of stuff to do at work and it took up a lot of time. I finally had the time to watch this disc and I hope my review makes up for the time that you all waited.

When I backed the Kickstarter, I backed the Personal Jebus edition at $250. Not only would I receive the media book but also an exclusive personalized disc. It was ultimately shipped after the book but I feel the wait was worth it overall. I have the first of 24 personalized jebus disc's.

Differences between the personalized film and the regular film (both are the international cut versions: There is nearly a 3 and a half minute video from the creative team thanking me by name and that they hope that I would see myself in the lead character in each of the shorts presented (and give a brief description of the lead in order in which the shorts are presented.

Other than that, there is a new title graphic in the beginning of the opening credits which states that this was a personal version for (backr name of Jebus edition inserted.) That's pretty much it for differences but if I can think of any more, I will update it. Great tribute overall.

Bonus Features:

The rough cut for Bad Santa from the third blu ray is included. Differences can be found on my review of disc no. 3 but I liked this cut overall.

The rough cut of Christmas Corp.se and They once had horses are exclusive to this disc and both do a good job presenting alternative versions (lack of vfx for Christmas corp.se and alternate/additional dialogue for They once had horses)

The Color edit of The Hunchback of Burg Hayn is also on the disc and is also exclusive and the presentation Is just as well done as the black and white version. It looked like a color copy was just found from the 1920s complete with the more limited coloring of the film.

There is a, exclusive audio commentary of December the 19th from the lead actresses together (the audio commentaries on the 3rd blu ray disc were different and did not have the actresses together). The interactions are both funny and informative and I enjoyed the commentary overall.

Finally, there is a brief 8 second teaser for deathcember along with a 75 second trailer for Crappy Christmas (which does inform you that the short isn't available in the US versions.

So this concludes my review of the entire media book. I plan to do one final post eventually that talks about why I decided to back the film and why I'm proud of the creators.

In the meantime, I want to just extend my thanks to the directors and producers for not just for the disc and mediabook but for the film!!

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Deathcember Mediabook Disc 3 and DVD Disc

Good evening. This post will cover the last 2 discs in the mediabook. So far, I had a blast with the mediabbook.

The third blu ray disc covers the remaining 13 shorts that make up volume 2 of the deathcember movie. The list below will show the shorts in remaining order plus the bonus features that accompany them. Some of the interviews do run a long time so I eventually stopped writing the questions down. They are generally entertaining though.

15. Santa is coming: Introduction (dear dictator clip), gallery

16. Cracker: Introduction, interview, santa krocan teaser, outtakes of the exploding head, gallery

17. They once had horses: interview with sound designer, what has he worked on recently. Whats it like to work with lucky, at which point of production process did he get into, how to film the right sounds, did he envision sounds from script, difference between lucky and Pollyanna's productions, did he have a specific monster in mind, share more about the shoot, how far away from civilization were they from during shoot. How long did they shoot for, most complicated thing about sound design, in Pollyanna, was the singing added in post production, any funny stories from shoot, did he work on a christmas film before, does he like Christmas, why do Christmas and horror go together well, whats next, last words. Gallery

18. 5 deaths in blood red: gallery

19. Door too far: introduction (zielgerade clip), gallery

20. Bad santa: rough cut ( new intro, fsther dresses as krampus, no ending scene), gallery

21.december the 19th: introduction, interview with tamar: what is so special about the date: what is Dunya (lead tamar played) like, had she worked for the director before, how long did the shoot take, how long did she practice for the accident scenes, does she and her partner, Helen skate in real life, any funny stories from the shoot, is there a horror scene in Serbia, has she played in a horror film before, whats next for her, final words. Audio commentaries from tamar and Helen, outtakes (both basically talk about what it's like to work on the set of the sbor, gallery

22. Joy to the girls: Introduction (clip from house of sweat and tears), gallery

23. Aurora: introduction, trailer for Aurora, gallery

24. Before sundown: introduction, gallery

25. Family matters: interview, still gallery

26. Operation dolph: gallery

27. They used to laugh and call him names:
Interview, gallery

Like the previous disc, the interviews are enjoyable (some run over a half hour long) and give off a good idea of how the shorts were conceived and filmed. I do wish subtitles were included though (EDIT: Technical difficulties and time constraints were holdups for subtitles). The introductions are still creative and informative and the rough cut for bad santa has a couple of new scenes which give more context to the characters. The bonus features of Cracker in particular were enjoyable especially the santa krocan fake trailer.

The DVD disc included contains the international cut of Deathcember along with the 2 trailers from disc 1, 2 additional kickstarter trailers plus a US version of one of the trailers (with Crappy Christmas segments replaced), an outtake reel with more behind the scenes footage, a trailer for December the 19th (basically a deleted scene), and the introduction to the Fantastic Fest presentation of deathcember back in 2019.

I had a blast with the mediabook and the bonus features do a good job for most of the shorts giving how the shorts were conceived and filmed. Obviously, not all of the shorts get equal attention but enough do to make this mediabook worthwhile. I also wish there were subtitles for the bonus features and the galleries made more on a menu basis than just shown as a 2 minute video but I had a lot of fun nonetheless.

Edit: Again, time constraints and technical difficulties caused the galleries to be a montage instead of interactive.

It may take a month for the personalized disc to arrive but I hope to burn the ISO image soon. As soon as I watch it, I will do a review of that disc.

Deathcember Mediabook Disc 2 review

Good evening, this post will cover Disc 2 from the Mediabook.

When Deathcember was toured in festival, the producers sometimes had to split the film into 2 volumes to ensure intermission. Disc 2 contains 14 of the shorts and I will list them in the order they ran along with the bonus features attached to them along with the notes I took during most of the interviews (which mostly give behind the scenes information and do a good job documenting the production.

1. Getting away from it all: interview: how long as actress, when she thought about directing, meaning of the title, is it the first Christmas horror she directed, how she chose the actor, how long the shoot took, any last words. Radio Pollyanna (radio outtakes). Still gallery. (Outtakes were hiliarious!!

2. Pig: introduction by director, BTS clip of dancing, still gallery

3. Villancicos: making of clips. Still gallery

4. All sales fatal: interview, how he got Tiffany shepis, how he got Jeffrey Reddick, how long he shot, is he happy with the finished short, ancedotes he shared about the shoot. Still gallery

5. Christmas miracle: Introduction (director shows clips from her shorts), Vivienne and her team (shoot diary), still gallery

6. Crappy Christmas: storyboard of the opening and ending, test animation, still gallery,

7. Hunchback: interview with Bob pipe, why he decided to direct a classic monster film, why he decided to make it a silent film and in black and white, did he shoot it in a castle, films that influenced hunback: what is production time, funny stories from shoot, relatioms between the movie MONSTER and this short, is the message that there is no salvation, upcoming projects he plans to do, should bob be on Santa's naughty list and why,last words.

Interview with Richard glover, Stephen Evans, and Louie bayliss: how they got to know bob, is this the first anthology, opinion on classic monster films, is the monster the lead actor played similar to the one he played before, imagine being a judge, what were the gifts given to the monster, how long did it take to apply the makeup, how was the role quite expressive, was the horse friendly, anything memorable about the shoot, whats next, the ende. Still gallery.

8. Kill Santa: introduction [black hollow cage clip and greeting], gallery

9. Family Feast: Gallery

10. Cassetta: interview: how did it come to pass, how many days did it take to shoot, was it difficult to find actors, any funny stories on set, best thing about anthologies, director's opinion about Christmas, how does he spend christmas, Is Christmas a time for happy or suicidal moments, what does he think of horror today, his thoughts about deathcember. Still gallery

11. Milk and Cookies: introduction (lists influences, mentions his films santaland and quiet room), still gallery

12. Xmas on fire: introduction (Florian introduction to his short films), director's cut, (longer planning of heist scene relating to racism and Judaism, extended scenes and end credits scene along with a quote from shakespeare. different intro graphic, still gallery

13. Christmas corp.se: introduction (beautifully shot), interview: german language, still gallery

14. Ring my bell: interview: how he got idea for film, she's a vampire, how did he choose the actors, how old the kid actors are, did they understand sex toys, production time, film influences, did he shoot a christmas film before, his opinion about Christmas, funny stories from shoot, is the vampire a real life professional dancer, whats next for him, last words, gallery, audio commentary

The introductions do a good job in introducing the directors including what previous work they have done and some get creative with the camera while introducing themselves. Each short contains a gallery of behind the scenes photos. I do like the photos although I wish they were run as an interactive gallery than a clip with photos changing every few seconds. I also enjoyed the directors cut of Xmas on fire as it gave more context as to the relationships between the members of the heist. Some shorts get more bonus features than others but in general, they do a great job as to covering the behind the scenes stuff for the shorts. Finally, the audio commentary for ring my bell is excellent and the notes are below.

Light my fire: kids were meant to run in the first scene but was changed to a whole family reveal shot. They added the cuckoo clock shot because the directors parents had one. Kids were shot separately from the parents.

My next post will cover the final 2 discs of the mediabook.

Deathcember Media Book Review Part 1 (Mediabook packaging and Disc no.1)

Before I begin this review, I just want to apologize for the delay. Moving to a different apartment was more work than I have anticipated and as a result, I wanted to settle down before writing this review of the Mediabook for Deathcember. I still haven't received the personalized disc but I did get a link to the ISO and I hope to view it shortly. For now, this will cover the packaging and the 1st blu ray disc of Deathcember.

The Mediabook itself is well designed. The front has the title and the back gives off a brief synopsis of Deathcember plus the specifications like runtime, language and subtitles plus a brief listing of some of the bonus features. Inside the mediabook are 3 blu ray discs covering the international cut of Deathcember plus the 2 volume cut (1 volume for each disc) and a DVD cut with the international cut and exclusive bonus features. I'm not the biggest fan of how the discs were packaged as they are easy to fall off if you don't push them into the locks but maybe others won't mind.

For Personal Jebus owners (about 5 including myself), they will get a nice card featuring the signatures of various directors from the Deathcember shorts plus the photos for each director on the back of the card. There are also 3 cards featuring the producers of Deathcember dressed as Santa along with a card featuring the VHS artwork for Deathcember (with a brief synopsis on the back of that card. I also got a nice card with a nice message from the Deathcember producers wishing for a much better 2021 (which so far is shaping up to be better although uneven at the same time).

The book itself gives a description of each short along with plenty of photos both from the film, and behind the scenes photos. It also gives a description as to how the project was conceived and funded including Kickstarter plans and the touring of the film. It then goes into a description of what the mediabook contains and also contains a wish to play the film every year. Overall, it is a well designed mediabook with information regarding the shorts and movie despite not being a fan of how the discs were packaged.

Disc 1 of Deathcember contains the international cut of Deathcember [with crappy christmas] and was fun to watch again. A teaser and regular trailer are both included and do a good job in the short time they have about selling the film. The making of featurette contains behind the scenes footage of 7 of the shorts in the following order.

1. A door too far.
2. Kill Santa
3. Joy to the Girls
4. Before Sundown
5. Hunchback
6. Pig
7. Xmas on fire

The footage is quite fun to watch, especially in the case of hunchback where everyone seems like they are having a great time!! The scoring Deathcember featurette is included and consists of Andrew Scott Bell composing the Deathcember suite. It is like getting a mini concert because I love the theme that plays throughout the framing segments.

Also included are the poster gallery and team screening gallery each containing poster and photos from the screening respectively. Speaking of the Team Screening, the video of the premiere at the end of August 2019 is included and is enjoyable to watch the producers answer questions from the audience plus interact with some of the cast members through skype.

Finally, there are audio commentaries for the following shorts, A Door Too Far, Villancios, Family Matters, Milk and Cookies Pig, December 19th, Getting Away From It All, Family Feast, Before Sundown, Cracker, Operation Dolph, and They Used to Laugh and Call Him Names. There was also an audience reactions track for Crappy Christmas.. Most of the commentaries were quite informative although I had a hard time understanding what Andreas Marschall said. Not his fault but I do wish there were subtitles to the commentaries and bonus features since some of the interviews are not in English. I took down notes during the commentaries and I will copy and paste them here. I do apologize if they seem messy but these more accurately reflect the thoughts as I watched them.

1. A Door Too Far:Director was inspired by advent calendars, talks about film, mentioned a location in which it was about to be shut, he was happy about the anti good guy's performance, kid had to be covered in liquid chocolate by frank in 3rd day of shooting. Shooting the girl eating chocolate used a go pro camera and was hard to shoot

5. Villancios: took a while to explain opening to vfx artists with little money. He praises actors and notes how hard the long shots are. Issac mentions they were lucky to find the house. Took 11 takes to follow girl through staircase. He notes passage of time in each period.

8. Family matters: the thanks audiences for supporting physical media. They noted a gay subplot that was removed and talk about 1 drink of alcohol. They talked about achieving a sexual undertone. The scalpel dropped and broke before the intended shot of the scalpel in box. They love practical effects. They said david croenberg was their inspiration. The worm in eye was the 1 cgi effect.

9. Audience reaction track to Crappy Christmas

16. Milk and cookies: he talks about gender identity. He talked about leaving letters to Santa. Kid actually cried after dad breaks toy. Lighting system was old school instead of LEDS. Actor who played dad is actually nice in real life. Director owned TV set as a kid and was influenced by black Christmas. He talks about "santa" wanting to help kid out.

17. Pig: Director was influenced by disco, built set. Heavy accent made it a bit hard to understand

19: December 19th: Director notes a tradition of food parties and getting drunk. He talked about finding an ice rink and why its pivotal to the story. He noted the incest and lesbian theme. He notes how the cold affected the actresses. He cut part of the ending

20. Getting away from all: Exteriors shot before interiors. She listed her influences for certain shots. She listed the crew for their hard work. She noted the cabin is the home for the lead actor and marveled at the prop for the sawed off foot.

21. Family feast: director and writer commentary. They noted the symbolism. They shot the short at the writer's parents place. They shot certain shots at the directors place.

22. Before Sundown: Beginning scene was the hardest scene to shoot because of long shot. They shot all the way to sunset and last take was used in film. Second hardest scene was the bike home. Lights went off at one time and they got unexpected Christmas shots. Producer plays the role of monster and was the house was the directors parents house. Final blueprint finger shot was cut due to fears of getting cursed.

23. Cracker: Reveal of crackers was directors favourite shot. He wanted to play with expectations. He notes the fathers demanouer and notes the tradition of handing out Christmas crackers. He wants people to be tense during the pulling of the crackers. Head explosion was practical. One of the directors favourite shot was the reveal of the moon. He thanks the cast.
24. Operation Dolph: shot on the afternoon 12/18/18 in Joshua California. His son played the kid playing the switch. His other son plays the teen and his friend played the mom. He notes the most difficult shot is the house scene. All the effects were practical. Stuntman plays the guy with a machine gun and gets a fake head crushed. The shed was dressed up. Reindeer shot was added 3 weeks later.

25. They Used to Laugh and Call Him Names: Was shot in star's backyard during a polar vortex in Ohio. The star's grandmother is in a photo shown in the film. The son of the actor played the son of the dad (played by the lead star)

So that was an enjoyable disc filled with nice bonus features. And this is just the first disc!! My next posts will cover the remaining discs.

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Opening to Deathcember VHS plus update

I recorded the opening for Deathcember on VHS and the video is below.

Also for a quick update, I did finally receive the mediabook after shipping delays due to customs and covid. I haven't received the personalized disc yet but should be coming within a month.

As for when I will review it, I am in the process of moving so it will probably be next month by the latest before the review goes up but I will try my best to have it be ready this month.

Saturday, January 2, 2021

Deathcember's VHS Review

(This review will only focus on the VHS release, presentation, cover art, and extras. The review of the movie itself can be found at this link: https://deathcemberthoughts.blogspot.com/2020/12/deathcember-review.html.)

Back around early December, Shout Factory (US Distributor of Deathcember) and the producers of Deathcember have teamed up with Broke Horror Fan and Witter Entertainment to produce 50 VHS copies of Deathcember. Broke Horror Fan offers merchandise based on horror films including soundtracks, Blu Rays, vinyl figures, posters, comics, and shirts. Their link is: https://brokehorrorfan.com/. Witter Entertainment has been producing VHS's of recent underground films for a few years now and some of their releases have included Mandy, Director's Cut, Victor Crowley, Nightmare Cinema, and Color out of Space. All 50 copies of Deathcember have sold out but you can still order VHS tapes of their other films at this link: https://witterentertainment.com/

The box for the VHS release is very sturdy in a clamshell design and the cover art on the front by Adrian Keindorf is well designed with horror characters and elements sitting near a fireplace. The Krampus like character is impressively well drawn and I also loved the drawing of the guy holding a knife and a couple of references to the Christmas Miracle and the Santa Is Coming short films. This front cover truly captures the tone from the movie which is delightfully weird and creepy. On the back of the box, it gives out a short description of the anthology film, mentions the special features (2 letters included) and 4 images from the following short films: Christmas Miracle, All Sales Fatale, Villancicos, and They Used to Laugh and Call Him Names. The credits are also included on the back.

Inside the VHS are 2 letters from Producers Ivo Scheloske and Dominic Saxl. Out of respect for Witter Entertainment and everyone involved, I won't copy the entire text of the 2 letters but what they talked about is mostly their experiences with VHS during the video nasty era in Germany with Ivo mentioning how the VHS for Deathcember came into fruition. Both letters mention their hopes for a good christmas 2020 despite the obvious challenges.

The VHS tape of Deathcember (with a label that lists how long the tape runs for plus copyright notices and logos), starts with the FBI warning, then a notification that this movie was modified to fit the screen, then the logos from Broke Horror Fan and Witter Entertainment, and then the movie itself. There's no additional extras before or after the movie.

Deathcember looks great on VHS and the presentation from the tapes really capture the feeling with a full 4:3 frame plus the analogue quality of the tapes back then. Unfortunately, the US cut for Deathcember is included since this is licensed from Shout Factory. This means the Crappy Christmas Short isn't included (although the director, Jurgen Kling is still credited on the back of the VHS).

Overall though, I am glad they were able to put out a VHS of Deathcember, even if it was limited to just 50 copies and I really like the presentation that Witter Entertainment does to its films. Even though all of the copies of Deathcember are sold out, there are other cult horror films and specials like the Holliston Christmas Special that you can still order today. Happy New Year's everyone!!

Wednesday, December 16, 2020

The Directors and Their Other Works Part 5

During the production of Deathcember, 27 segments were made for the film, each helmed by a different director. I am going to post the names of each of the directors' other films plus links as to where to find them. I live in the US so my links will link to the U.S version but if you find a website from a different country that has the link to the film, please comment below and I will add that link. Not all the films have been made available in any format but I will try my best to include them as much as I can. Again, if you find a dvd or a link to the digital download, please comment so I can update this post with that link. I will also just list what they have directed. Since the list of directors is long, I will be splitting this into 6 posts, the first 5 covering 5 directors each and the last one covering the remaining 2 directors.

This post will cover the last 7 directors for shorts 21-27.

21. Rémi Fréchette (director of Family Feast)

The Consequences of Pills (short): (no link found)

L'Emetteur Russ (short): https://filmshortage.com/shorts/lemetteur-russ/ (Password Required)

Last Day of Harold Fishman (short): (no link found)

Revirements Fatals (short): https://vimeo.com/46589549

The Trouville Zone (short): https://vimeo.com/354428571

Betes de foire (short): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW_neS8hizw

Les Jaunes (movie): https://vimeo.com/ondemand/lesjaunestheyellows

Goodbye Laurie (short): (no link found)

Camera Chaos (short): https://vimeo.com/142079347

L' Etrange Province (tv series): https://vimeo.com/camerachaos