Blood Soaked Snow Courtesy of Crazy Canucks!

                         

"Horror has been in Canada's snow for decades now, starting with the classic Cannibal Girls and Black Christmasin the early '70s, through the classic early Cronenberg years of Shivers, Rabid and The Brood in the late '70s. In the '80s, we got films like Prom Night, My Bloody Valentine and The Gate. In the past decade, we've had flicks like the Ginger Snaps series, Cube and PontyPool. In fact, you could even count the last three Dead movies by George A. Romero as Canadian — after all, he is a Canadian citizen now and made all three films in Toronto." -Kelly Michael Stewart, PLANET FURY

For those of you new to this blog and/or the antics of myself and my twin sister, Jen, here is something that changed my life. We were always big horror nerds, we loved Rodriguez flicks, and at the end of 2007, GRINDHOUSE changed our lives. We had been going to a rip off claiming to be a film school, they had pulled our funding to our final project which just made us artistically pissed off. It was at that time we were inspired by the faux trailers in the multi-collaborative project, but it was Canadian Jason Eisener's HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN that truly made us think - yes, we can eviscerate too! That was the where our first film, DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK got her sexy legs.

Now, I'm a very proud Canadian. We have this beautiful country filled with interesting quirky people. Yes, we are polite, but as anyone who has Canadian friends or enjoys Canadian films can tell you, Canadians are fucking weird. I adore that weirdness, that different approach that brings original stories to life. There is a lot of talent here, and it's not only on our hockey teams (minus playoff season, seriously, what the fuck happened?). I feel very privileged to have been included on the fantastic Kelly Michael Stewart's Ten Canadian Genre/Horror Filmmakers to Watch For List.

"I've put to together a list of 10 Canadian genre/horror filmmakers and filmmaking teams who I think are worth watching out for in the next year. Remarkably, there are a ton of directors that I couldn't even fit on this list, so that gives you an idea of the wealth I had to pick from. All of the chosen people have a feature or two that are out now or will be out in the next 12 months. Most of these names you likely haven't heard of yet and are best described as "bubbling under" in the industry. The one thing that they all have in common is that they have recently put out an interesting film or a small body of work that is pointing to greater things. Keep an eye on the following filmmakers in the next year and see if you agree."

The list includes: Foresight Features, Astron-6, Jason Eisener, Black Fawn Films, Karen Lam, Justin McConnell, Ryan M Andrews, Evan Kelly, Richard Powell, and the Twisted Twins. Click here for a proper introduction to these Canucks and the rad article. A huge and humble thanks to Kelly for including Jen and me on this list - very fucking cool of you!

-Sylv

The Daily Dead had the Twisted Twins for Mary Mayhem

                       

Jen and Sylvia Soska made a big splash recently at Cannes with American Mary and Kristian caught up with the Soska sisters to ask them about their Cannes experience and upcoming projects. He also learned about their favorite movies, most wanted superpower, and their weapon of choice in a zombie apocalypse.

We would like to get to know us Twisted Twinnies better, a lot better. What better way to get to know someone than have one of their good friends - in this case Craptastic Writer, comedian, puppeteer, and now filmmaker with his new FRIENDS FOR LIFE (sidebar: it includes one of our last cameo appearances), Kristian Hanson - to grill the real stuff off of our extra lean asses. Truth, we are after all, starving indie horror filmmakers.

                       

Are you frothing at the mouth and loins for AMERICAN MARY? Fuck, I hope so. Want a few hints about what we have up our sleeveless sleeves? In this piece we talk about the upcoming film, our past first child - DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK, comics, zombie warfare, and our worldwide market premiere screening at Cannes. Here's an interview apply --

What inspired you to make a film like American Mary?

Sylvia: After we finished DEAD HOOKER and were working on distribution, I was talking to Eli Roth, who is literally one of the best, most coolest people on the planet and he asked me what other scripts we had in the works. I actually had nothing at the time, so I lied and threw a bunch of ideas for scripts that I thought I could write really quickly. He said that the one about the medical student sounded interesting, so I went with that. The idea came from an April Fools prank I saw online involving identical twins. It had creeped me out so much that I got obsessed with it. 


Anytime something scares me, I try to learn as much about it as possible because I find educating yourself is the best way to dissolve a phobia. The more I learned about this misunderstood and scapegoated community, the more I got to really dig what they were about. I used that underground group and mainstream society as a basis for the story with Jen. We were struggling a lot and had been for years to find our place in the filmmaking world and used that analogy for the situation Mary, a struggling medical student finds herself in.


Jen: There is a lot of personal material in AMERICAN MARY. Not exactly literal, but definitely inspired by our experiences working in the film industry. I find the topic of what’s on the outside as opposed to what’s on the inside fascinating. Appearances are incredibly deceiving in life and people rarely turn out to be what they appear to be. Much of that is incorporated in AMERICAN MARY.

                                       

You can clickity click right here for the whole Daily Dead piece. Thank you for checking up on our adventures and all the support that you have given us to get to this point, ladies and gentlemen. We're extremely proud of AMERICAN MARY and very excited to start sharing the new film with you all! 

-Sylv

Way Out Films reviews DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK

WAY OUT FILMS is fucking rad. Founded by Lucas Stiverson in Virginia Beach in early 2012, Lucas started this company in order to have total creative control over his film projects as he feels that the artist deserves that freedom. He is now working on the first full length film under the Way Out Films banner, and hopes to acquire more talented independent artists in the future to help spread their art.

 I couldn't commend the man more. Art belongs in the hands of the artists. Recently even one mister Clive Barker said that he wants to make his own work independently to ensure that it is his vision that ends up on the screen. Times are a changin', boys and grrls.

Just recently, Lucas was rad enough to review our first born baby, DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK. 

LISTEN HERE!!

A massive thank you to Lucas and WAY OUT FILMS for taking the time to check out DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK and for the pimping. As everyone knows, hookers, dead or alive, do benefit from a good ole fashioned pimping ;)

Fatally Yours,
Jen

The Power of Cast Compels You!

What is Exorcast? Why I'm so happy that you asked --

This is Exorcast! Nothing less than an act of divine intervention for horror fans who have grown weary of your run of the mill podcasts! Join Vincent and The Beard each month, as these warrior priests of the horror underground, deliver their message!

Very fucking cool. And even cooler is that our DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK has made it onto their show - click here for a listen - and here's what else you get on this episode --

On this weeks episode we review Paul Champion’s The Devils Rock, Richard Elfman’s cult classic Forbidden Zone, The Twisted Twins Jen and Sylvia Soska’s Dead Hooker In A Trunk, James Bickert’s new exploitation film Dear God No! We deliver Last Rites to Joe D’Amato’s sequel to Antropophagus, Horrible (Absurd). We also respond to Zombie’s Don’t Podcasts Adam Green episode and Vincent rants about Troma, Astron-6 and Father’s day!

Please enjoy episode 15 and thank you very kindly to the gentlemen for taking the time they did with our dead whore!

-Sylv

Come Play With Us Danny, Forever and Ever and Ever...

The Bloody Best Project is a celebration of the horror genre and the people who have shaped it into what it is today. We do this by creating high end conceptual images of the very people who have scared us on the silver screen. Never before has a project like this been attempted, but our team- Ama, Autumn, and Roger take on the challenge full force. Our hope is to bring you a beautiful, twisted, and dark collection of images that will showcase the amazing talent of legendary scream queens, slashers, monsters, directors, FX artists, and of the minds and talent that have created nightmares for decades. This project has stemmed out of our life long love and enthusiasm for the horror genre and our goal is to channel that passion into this project and bring you art that is awe inspiring, gut wrenching, and that immortalizes the bloody best- the legends of the horror industry.

Photographer: Ama Lea
Make Up/Hair: Laura Raczka
Retoucher: Roger Johansen

I will admit what a fucking nerd I am. I will admit that I have known about The Bloody Best Project for a long time, that I have perved on the pictures of the rad horror folks for a long time, and that it was a secret nerd wish to be included in their amazing series. This past weekend, Jen and I were lucky enough to have the opportunity to shoot with these rockstars and get to get our THE SHINING twins homage on.

I love these pics to insane lengths. A huge thanks to the fantastic team - Ama Lea, Laura Raczka, and Roger Johansen - that came together to make this drop dead gorgeous image and a huge thank you to Andrea Albin for introducing us to make this collaboration possible.

-Sylv

Studio ADI, You Make Good Monsters!

You know when you watch a movie and you see these really fucking lame CG shits all over the screen and you think, wow what a heap of shit? Well, often there are really fucking cool practical effects that get the CG treatment or get created, then left on the cutting room floor. Which is horror blasphemy.

Studio ADI makes some wickedly wicked monsters and effects for film, many of which you have never seen. Until now - for you true horror junkies, check their Youtube channel and vids for what should have made it onto the big screen!
       
                    

Share with your cool friends. Monster makers don't get the love they deserve.

-Sylv

Holy Peaches Christ at Cannes!

I love Peaches Christ. Sensational performer and artist - and now, from personal experience meeting at the Cannes Film Festival - one of the coolest people I have had the pleasure of meeting in this crazy world. And having the sincere honour to have at our AMERICAN MARY worldwide market premiere screening.

"I've just returned from the Cannes Film Festival where I saw loads of movies and went to glamorous red-carpet premieres! I felt completely out-of-place amongst all the fanciness and was even a little worried I'd just sorta stand out as a rube, but luckily I fooled those frogs. I really fooled 'em! I even got to walk the Palais red-carpet at the famous Lumiere Theatre wearing formal attire to attend the premiere of horror legend Dario Argento's new movie Dracula 3D, which is a total hoot. The best movie I saw while I was there was something called Beasts Of The Southern Wild. It is sooooooo good and sooooo beautiful and the wee little child actress who plays the lead, "Hushpuppy", is incredible. Definitely go see this movie when it hits theaters soon. Loved it!!! I also saw some fun horror movies like American Mary and Excision and I stayed in a villa with mice that Roman Polanski stayed in for four consecutive years. The whole experience was tres bien!" -Peaches Christ

If you can make it to the show, you simply must see Peaches' SILENCE OF THE TRANS show. And then message and tell me all about it. Dying to see it. For those of you being firstly introduced to Peaches Christ through this post, you are very welcome and enjoy!

-Sylv