Join our LETTER WRITING CAMPAIGN to Sony Home Entertainment asking them to release THE PLAGUE: WRITERS & DIRECTOR'S CUT on DVD & Blu-Ray!
Check out an updated version of Writer/Director Hal Masonberg's article, Spreading The Plague: The Perfect Hollywood Ending from the Fall 2007 issue of MovieMaker Magazine, chronicling THE PLAGUE's journey from inception, development and shooting, thru the film being taken away from its creative team and completely re-cut by producers, to the current campaign to get the WRITERS & DIRECTOR'S CUT released.
Here's our tale. Spread the word. There's a web site link below with a petition that needs a whole lotta signatures.
Filmmaker Fights To Spread THE PLAGUE: Film dealing with children/violence stirs studio controversy
Writer/Director Hal Masonberg is fighting to get his film seen; a film he finished AFTER he was removed from the project. Now he’s heading an international campaign to get his film released. The film in question is, THE PLAGUE, a thought-provoking, socially relevant horror movie dealing with the subject of kids and violence. THE PLAGUE was taken away from both its writers and director during post production after they'd spent a total of 8 years struggling to get it made. The film was re-cut from scratch by producers who chose to do so without the involvement of the film's creators. The new focus of the producers? To make what they called a "killer-kid film". Stock footage was added, new dialogue recorded, and the film completely restructured. This "new" cut of the film was released to dvd in September of 2006 at a running time of 88 minutes under the title CLIVE BARKER'S THE PLAGUE, though the film was not based on any of Barker's work. It was, in fact, an original screenplay by Masonberg and co-writer Teal Minton.
Not satisfied with having his name, or his writing partner's name, on a film he felt in no way reflected their years of hard work, creative input or artistic intent, Masonberg decided to finish the film on his own with the materials available to him –the dvd dailies and a Macintosh computer. Masonberg would have preferred access to the film's original 35mm negative which was shot by veteran cinematographer, Bill Butler (JAWS, THE CONVERSATION, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST), but such was not the case. Sadly, even Mr. Butler was not invited by producers to participate in the film's post-production process.
Using Final Cut Pro, Adobe After Effects and a host of other commercially available programs, Masonberg completed his cut of the film from scratch, teaching himself complex sound design and visual effects along the way.
Today, THE PLAGUE: WRITERS & DIRECTOR'S CUT has been seen by only a few, but the response has been through the roof: "It's amazing how people respond to this film," says Masonberg, "It's not a splatter film, not a gore film. We wanted to make a film that harkened back to when horror films were made for adults and were a reflection of our combined social fears. People who never think about going to see horror movies are now asking to see this one again and again because of what the film says and how it says it."
Unfortunately for Masonberg --and the public as well-- the film's current distributor, Screen Gems, has no plans to release this cut. The good news is that there is a web site, growing quickly in popularity, that is devoted to that very cause. On it one will find, not only a link to a petition with an ever-growing number of signatures, but an hour-long documentary titled SPREADING THE PLAGUE: INTERVIEWS ABOUT THE WRITERS & DIRECTOR'S CUT which contains interviews with Masonberg and cast members, including one of the film's stars, Dee Wallace (E.T., THE HOWLING), as well as noted film authors/ journalists. All participants openly voice their desire to see this cut of the film released. There are also written interviews, radio interviews, links to forums and articles all focusing on getting this film out to the public.
You can view the rest of this doc either at http://www.spreadingtheplague.com or at http://www.youtube.com/ (search for spreading the plague - there are 6 more parts)
Thanks for the ADD. Have fun with the FIRST OFFICIAL TRAILER of the Rose/Schnaas production we co-produced with LASER PARADISE in 2009, called UNRATED - The Movie and our latest Trailer of our UNDERGROUND Zombie Splatter Movie called GRAVEYARD OF THE LIVING DEAD. Please vote and quote!
Be Discovered in HOLLYWOOD! Great Networking Opportunity! http://www.hollywoodfestival.com
The
13th Annual Hollywood Film Festival is now open for submissions in the
following genres: Features (drama & comedy), Docs, Shorts, and
Music Videos!
Visit Hollywood FILM Festival, Hollywood COMEDY
Film Festival, Hollywood HORROR Film Festival and Hollywood MUSIC VIDEO
Awards to submit. http://www.hollywoodfestival.com
P.S. Hustle and Flow’s Craig Brewer was discovered at the HFF!
Also, follow the Hollywood Film Festival on Facebook to get the latest updates on all our events coming up this summer:
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Music Lovers, Science Lovers, Deep Thinkers come one come all. If this touches your soul, please reach out to somebody else and let them in on this. Einstein would be proud.
We are seeking Indy film makers to participate in "Listen" An Earth day film project.
Be part of the first Twitter Community Film project where you can create a portion of a scene for our Earth Day Project.
We want people from around the world to be part of the celebration.
We will produce this film comprised of many individually created video clips sent in by you.
Your film clip can only be 30 seconds of original footage. Rendered in mp2 or mp4, making sure it's only 25 MB maximum.
First 15 seconds, we need you to film a situation of commotion...for example...Parks, Parties, restaurants, crowds, traffic.... Second 15 seconds, have everyone show reaction to sudden total silence (loss of hearing).
This footage will be compiled into the Earth Day Film Project. The script is finished but requires your participation.
We will finish the project after all submissions have been reviewed. Submission deadline is April 15th. This project is not for profit. Not only is this a way to have your original ideas seen, but to also celebrate our planet. Project will be released onto Youtube April 22nd...Earth Day. Please include the name of your film company and the names of all the participants in your clip for ending credits.
Online Now!
